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By Mel Rosenberg
Illustratuion: Tali Niv-Dolinski
Copyright © 1996 Mel Rosenberg
All Rights Reserved.

In 1974, a microbiology student met a young child from Kiryat-Shmona and promised to write him a book explaining what bacteria are.

Promises should be kept, but the student lost the child's address.

Meanwhile, the years went by, and the student, now a professor of microbiology at Tel-Aviv University, finally keeps his promise in this book, which exposes the microbial world in a frank, yet amusing manner.

"...When bacteria have enough food and water,
They grow (just like we do)
And then divide
down the middle
(no, we don't do that!)
One on each side.

Now there are two bacteria.
One on the right and one on the left.
They grow too.
When each divides,
The two become four,
And then eight and sixteen
And more and more,
And if just one starts to grow
on Saturday night
We'll have bacteria galore
By Sunday at four..."

For more details about the book, please contact Prof. Rosenberg.