Book Review of It Takes Guts, How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel
The Children’s Book Review
It Takes Guts, How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel (And Poop)
Written by Dr. Jennifer Gardy
Illustrated by Belle Wuthrich
Ages 8-12 | 152 Pages
Publisher: Greystone Kids | ISBN-13: 978-1771645010
What to expect: Human Body, Facts, Gross Facts, Biology
Well, it’s a fact: everybody poops. We may not want to talk about it (adults, mainly), but our digestive functions are a long and fascinating process. With Dr. Jennifer Gardy, we can learn how what we eat and drink nourishes us, moves through us, and becomes…yes, we’ll say it again – poop.
Time to leave delicate sensibilities at the door!
From the beginning, our tiny bodies create a digestive tract. According to the book, embryos begin forming tubes that become our intricate digestive system at merely eight weeks old. And by the time we are born, we have already created our very first poop. Talk about starting things off on the right foot.
Gardy takes us on an intense journey through our bodies. Even our mouth and seemingly useless saliva (did you know you make six cups a day of saliva?!) are fascinating. Did you know that your digestive system has its own nervous system, called the enteric nervous system? That means that it does its thing all on its own. Next time you swallow, pay attention. Can you talk while swallowing? Breathe? No? That’s because the enteric nervous system has taken over, ensuring food finds its way down the proper path and not into your lungs! Pretty cool, right?
With the interesting/gross facts Dr. Jennifer Gardy so entertainingly lays out, Belle Wuthrich’s illustrations deserve a shoutout. Never before has a poop and gut bacteria looked so friendly and adorable! Wuthrich’s pictures keep the book light and fun, with comical asides and realistic depictions of things like your intestines.
A perfect book for a book report or your niece or nephew who loves to regale the family with gross facts at the dinner table! IT TAKES GUTS: HOW YOUR BODY TURNS FOOD INTO FUEL (AND POOP) is a perfect gift!
Highly recommended as a gift or for the classroom.
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About the Author
Dr. Jennifer Gardy is a scientist who has worked at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and is now part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Malaria team. She appears frequently on television programs such as CBC’s The Nature of Things and the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet. She lives in Chicago.
About the Author
Belle Wuthrich is an illustrator and designer specializing in books for young readers. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Belle has contributed to more than a dozen books for kids, a number of which have won awards or been republished internationally.
It Takes Guts, How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel (And Poop) by Dr. Jennifer Gardy was reviewed by Dr. Jen Harrison. Discover more books like It Takes Guts, How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel (And Poop) by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with fact books, biology, and human body books.
