This is an earnest and well meaning book written by mainly Japanese and American authors. Although entitled Medical and Surgical Management of Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Splenic Disease in Children, this book concentrates on surgical management of selected topics and cannot be considered a comprehensive guide to the medical management of paediatric liver disease.

Nevertheless the book has many strengths. There are five chapters on basic morphology and physiology of the liver which include an excellent summary of the embryology of the liver and bile ducts in this rapidly developing field, and details of the development of the pancreas, including …