Hospitals are a different world. Although I spent my early twenties working in some, the confusion and lone-ness I felt when admitted for routine repairs a score of years later were very real. So what must it be like for children? Well, whatever it's like it should be a good deal better if they, or their helpers, have had a good look at this book first.

Working from the viewpoint that to be forewarned is to travel more hopefully, Diana Kimpton has produced a very practical and often amusing explanation of the significant things that hospitals get up to while trying to help people get better. It's particularly good at recognising as natural the many unvoiced worries that patients (of any age, actually) may have - 'Who will wipe my bottom if I can't?', 'Will everyone laugh at me?' and that kind of thing. Sensible 'What to do if ...' advice abounds by the bedpanful, with the recurring burden of 'If you're worried - tell someone'.

This is easy enough for juniors and up to read for themselves but, for anyone, it'll be even better value if shared with a parent figure - or even another patient. As a discussion book it's streets ahead of the real life 'Cindy has her tonsils out' variety and should help give new patients and their families the confidence-graft they need to face treatment, tests and operations with equanimity. Hospital bookshops, please stock.

Commonsense also pervades We're Talking About AIDS. The explanation of the syndrome and how it's acquired is clear and basic. So too the need for and methods of self-protection, but the book's strongest point is its lucid drawing of the distinction between HIV and AIDS. The fact that having one is not the same as having the other often seems to be reluctantly understood and for its excellent treatment of this point the book deserves notice.