With two boys under six, scraped elbows and knees are a common sight in my household. After the crying and tears subside, the excitement of deciding between the Captain America or the Lightning McQueen band aid soon follows.

The fun part of getting a boo-boo: choosing bandaids

Over those next several days, my boys get a thrill out of peeking at their boo-boos as they gradually heal. And I get giddy about using their minor injuries as an excuse to tell them about the amazing role stem cells play in helping the body heal. But have you ever tried to discuss the cellular and molecular processes of wound healing and tissue regeneration to little kids? It’s a bit tricky to say the least.

Fortunately, a new resource has come to my rescue. Carlo and the Orange Glasses is an imaginative children’s picture book about a boy who gets a cut on his leg and, with the help of his older sister, learns how his body repairs itself. In the story, Carlo uses a magical pair of glasses, the Zoom3000, that lets him witness his stem cells in action as they help mend his skin. You can read the interactive online book here:

Vanessa de Mello, a PhD student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, wrote and illustrated the book during an internship at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine (MRC) also in Scotland. The MRC currently hosts Carlo and the Orange Glasses on EuroStemCell, a fabulous website and program whose mission is “to help European citizens make sense of stem cells.”

In a post last week on the EuroStemCell website, de Mello explained her goal for the book:

Vanessa De Mello

“The book itself is intended for children around the ages of 8-10. Carlo and the Orange Glasses gives an overview of wound healing, definitions of cells, tissues and stem cells in an imaginative way. I hope for the book to be fun, easy to read and pull more young minds into science.”

I put the book to the test by reading it to my almost six-year-old. He really liked the colorful drawings and when I asked him what the book meant to him, he said:

Carlo and the Orange Glasses helped my
5 year old son, Ezra, learn about stem cells.

“Stem cells are the most important cells in your body because they fix
your boo-boos and help you to grow.”

Based on that response, I’d say Vanessa’s book is a smashing success!

I think making this complex scientific concept accessible and entertaining for very young kids is so important. It helps instill an appreciation for science that they’ll carry on to adulthood. Who knows how many will eventually go on to careers in regenerative medicine and stem cell science. But they all have the potential to become stem cell ambassadors to ensure this field fulfills its promise to bring treatments to patients with unmet medical needs.