What Medicine Can Do

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Author(s)

Gabrielle Balkan

Co-Authors / Illustrators

Alberto Lot

Publisher

Penguin Workshop

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

November 11, 2025

ISBN

979-8217051243

Buy This Book

An accessible, informative, and humorous introduction to the power of medicine for young readers.

Uh-oh—Raccoon feels blerg and ick. Read along as he and his friends do symptoms checks, get examined, get diagnoses, and each, in turn, get the medicine they need. Readers will learn that medicine can make you feel more comfortable, help you heal, help prevent you from getting sick, and more. Written by nonfiction maven Gabrielle Balkan, and vetted by both a pediatrician and a nurse practitioner, this conversationally informative text incorporates comfort and humor, in partnership with Alberto Lot’s emotive, comical character art. A truly enjoyable read that will leave readers better equipped for their next germy experience!

Editor review

1 review

Essential information for young patients

February 07, 2026 (Updated: June 03, 2026)

Overall rating

5.0

Writing Style

5.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

Learning Value

5.0

Racoon does not feel well, so he talks to his great-grand-racoon, who asks if he has any symptoms. After a symptom check that looks at his tummy, throat, tail, and skin on his leg, Racoon reports that his symptoms include a rash on his leg. Who did this? Do I have an enemy? Racoon exclaims. Great-grand-racoon explains that his diagnosis of the problem is that Racoon has a rash from a poison ivy plant. There's medicine in lotion form that can help, and other treatments are described. Racoon feels better soon. He wants to play, but his friend Fox is under the weather. After going through the same symptom check, which includes a fever and a scratchy throat, Fox's mother takes him to the doctor, who does a throat swab and diagnoses Fox with strep throat. He has to take a liquid antibiotic, but feels better soon. Our last patient is Racoon's infant sister, Baby Fox, who isn't sick at all. Still, she goes to the doctor to get a vaccine. While it isn't her favorite thing to do, she takes her stuffed animal with her for comfort, and bravely gets a shot. An overview at the end of the book explains how medicine can come in many forms, and can help with a variety of medical issues. There is also a warning that medicine is not for sharing, a list of other things children can do to remain healthy, and a glossary of important terms.

Good Points

I really liked the formulaic way this book was laid out, and think it would have been super helpful for my own children to go through the progression of symptom, diagnosis, and treatment. Having this knowledge of procedure can make things less scary for children. The explanation of vaccines was especially helpful, and I liked that Baby Fox was shown crying briefly, but then felt better. When Fox is visiting the doctor, the doctor performs all of the procedures he is going to do on a stuffed octopus first, which is a great way to take some of the fear of the unknown away from a medical appointment.

Lot's brightly colored illustrations have bold and cimple shapes, but the faces of the animals are still very expressive. The text is easy to follow, and this would be great for older children to read to younger ones, especially since Fox is such a great big brother to Baby Fox.

I vividly remember the entry in the Childcraft Encyclopedia of my youth where a little girl has to have her tonsils out. It was photoillustrated, and walked through all of the steps of her hospital stay in a similar matter of fact way. For years, I thought it might be kind of cool to get my own tonsils out, so there's something to be said for advanced preparation. Since this covers a range of medical procedures, this is a great book to have on hand to prepare young patients.