If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How to Know If Your Child’s Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency

Zibners, an emergency room pediatrician who divides her time between London and New York, claims that about 75% of all nighttime Emergency Department visits are unnecessary. To forestall them, she’s written a book that every parent needs at 4 a.m. when the baby has a bellyache or fever, and a decision must be made about whether to call the doctor, go back to bed or head for the hospital. Zibners walks parents through all the body parts and processes, including “The ABCs: Airway, Breathing and Circulation”; “The Noggin and Nervous System”; “Seeing and Hearing: The Eyes and Ears”; “Bite and Sniff: The Nose, Mouth and Throat” and so forth, with a chapter devoted to such newborn issues as the soft spot and the umbilicus. Along the way she answers such questions as what would happen if a child ate a decoration pebble from the fish tank, whether a Barbie shoe fits up a nostril, and how to deal with bites, stings, falls, allergic reactions, household poisonings and other panic-inducing problems. Despite her offbeat, wisecracking sense of humor, the book is filled with critical information, such as the fact that fever in a newborn is an urgency. Zibners gives parents the tools to make logical choices while simultaneously trusting their instincts. (June)