The Nose by Maris Wicks

Maris Wicks is one of those illustrators whose work I’m always happy to see. This is directly due to the fact that she illustrated the wonderful book Primates, written by Jim Ottaviano.

And even more so because she created the art for one of the best summer books in recent memory, Yes, Let’s, written by Galen Goodwin Longstreth.

She has a new book coming out. It’s called Human Body Theater. As soon as I saw this was coming I put a bit mental X on my big mental calendar.

Maris is on a blog tour this week for the book. Each day she’s sharing some original art and information about a part of the body. Appropriate, I say.

Today? The nose. Take it away, Maris!

Your nose knows. It knows to smell (with some interpretative help from your brain), it knows to inhale air, and it knows to trap particles like dirt, dust and germs with its hairs and mucus. Speaking of mucus, your nose can make up to 1.5 liters of gooey snot a day! It’s snot bad though; mucus covers the inside of your nose and throat like a protective blanket. An ooey, gooey booger blanket. But this blanket does some important stuff: it keeps the inside of your nose, mouth and throat from drying out, and it traps those pesky particles and keeps them out of your lungs. When you have a cold, your body goes into extra mucus production to flush out the germs that are making you sick. So next time you have a runny nose, cheer it on, like it’s running a snotty marathon!

Maris Wicks lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. She has harnessed the power of her various biological systems to draw comics for Adhouse Books, Tugboat Press, and Spongebob Comics, and written stories for Image and DC Comics. Wicks is the illustrator of the New York Timesbestselling Primates, with Jim Ottaviani. When she’s not making comics, Wicks works with New England Aquarium. She’s especially proud of her pulmonary system.

Click here to see the entire blog tour schedule.

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