Everybelly
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2025 Kirkus Prize! A joyful celebration of an oft-maligned body part — the belly!
Maddie and her mom spend a sunny day at the local public pool where she meets and greets friends and neighbors. Maddie is waist-high on most of them, and she knows there’s an interesting person behind every belly she passes — like Jackie, the artist with a splatter of ice cream across their belly. Maddie’s splatter painting often leaves Mama speechless, too!
The poolside belly parade keeps Maddie musing: How bellies can make excellent tables, how hard some people work to keep their bellies flat when Maddie prefers her belly full, and how you should never, ever stick your hands in other people’s bellies, no matter how soft and doughy they might look. (Maddie’s cat taught her that the hard way.)
As Maddie dances, swims and makes the long climb up to the diving board, Thao Lam’s celebrated cut-paper collage portrays bellies and bodies of all shapes and sizes — bellies with scars, tattooed bellies, growing bellies, growling bellies, bellies with six-packs, stretch marks, insulin monitors, freckles and more — proving that every belly deserves its place in the sun.
Key Text Features
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4
Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In observational prose, a young narrator portrayed with brown skin introduces readers to local pool-goers—all pictured by Lam (One Giant Leap) via a child's-eye view. Crisp cut-paper collages portray "everybelly" from the protagonist's perspective, largely showcasing chests, tummies, thighs, and feet. "This is my mama. I used to live here until I grew too big," the youth begins, poking an adult in the abdomen. In addition to anecdotes about and perceptions of the community members (referencing an individual drumming on their own torso, "Vibhuti's in a band. They know how to keep a beat!"), the narrator reflects on what bellies can do ("stretch bigger... make great tables"). And a view of pigeons snacking poolside accompanies musing about the child's own stomach: "When my belly is full, it's nice and round. But an empty belly goes flat. Mama works hard to keep our bellies full." Declarative sentences and memorable character designs that reflect diversity of ability, age, body type, gender expression, and skin tone distinguish this loving, wide-ranging tribute to the beauty, variety, and power of individual bodies—and bellies. Ages 3–6.
