Children's Books About Digestion and Eating
* This image includes the old name for the ‘Is There a Book for That?’ blog/book list.
Eating and pooping. Seriously, so much revolves around this. It's important for kids to understand how their body works. It's important that they feel like they can explain what they are feeling and work with their caregivers to make good choices.
In the hospital, kids can have trouble with both eating and pooping as a result of their medicines or medical treatment. Kids can have diagnosis directly affecting these organs. Understanding these changes and how their body works is a big part of working through these things. (Also, keep following next week when I'll share some fun books that help encouraging eating and/or trying new foods.)
A Garden in Your Belly by Masha D’Yans
This beautiful book talks about the microbes in each person’s intestines. The book uses metaphors to help kids understand how they can help their own body by supporting good microbes with a variety of good foods and exercise. It also talks about how too much junk can let bad microbes take over which will make kids feel yucky. The highlight of this book is the fun and interesting illustrations. This book could be helpful to talk to kids about taking care of their bodies or talking about GI issues when healthcare affects their stomach health. Age preschool to upper elementary. The wording is more playful and artistic, rather than straight forward. So an adult may need to clarify some aspects. Pairing the book with some watercolor art project would be especially fun.
https://amzn.to/4ooCZox
Meena and the Microbiome by Dr. Majdi Osman
This book teaches kids about microbes and their role in the soil and in their bodies. The book was written by a doctor who studied C.Diff, a common issue in the hospital. If a caretaker is adding a probiotic to a child’s diet to help cope with antibiotics or a child needs to do extra sanitizing or cleaning to avoid the spread of C.Diff this book can help kids understand the why. This book is good for preschool through middle elementary. The book uses simple language that is easy to understand, but it does not focus only on the body. Much of the book talks about microbes in the soil and the garden.
https://amzn.to/4ozbeKj
Gut Garden: A Journey Into the Wonderful World of Your Microbiome by Katie Brosnan
This book is a super detailed book about microbes. I appreciate that it focuses on microbes in the human body including in the mouth, throat, stomach, and intestine. It gives details about the microbes and multiple other aspects of these parts of the body. It also talks about how to increase helpful microbes, the role antibiotics can play, how they affect the immune system, illnesses related (including Chrohn’s disease, and C.Diff), and research about future ways to utilize microbes. This book has a lot of information - I, personally, learned a lot! It might be overwhelming for younger readers. I would recommend it for upper elementary and up.
https://amzn.to/4apkFbw
My Stomach (My Body) by Rena Korb
This factual book does a nice job explaining many aspects of the stomach such as where the stomach is located, its role in the body, and how food digestion works. It is important for kids to understand how their body works and why eating is important. Many health issues and treatments can affect kids’ appetites and food processing. This book can help kids be a part of the conversation and understand why they are feeling the way they do. This book would be good for preschool through middle elementary.
https://amzn.to/4ovnUSo
Good Enough to Eat by Lizzy Rockwell
This book is an informational read that talks about different kinds of food and what they do for the body. There is a breakdown of food types, analysis of foods with fat and sugar, and explanations of different vitamins and how they help your body. For me, this book felt like a food table lesson from elementary school in the 90s. It has a lot of information squeezed into each page, but it might be easy to lose kids’ attention span. This book would be good for your kids that appreciate non-fiction books and retain facts. Good for elementary school kids, but if your kids have a shorter attention span, the book makes it easy to pick and choose on each page. You don’t have to read every word.
https://amzn.to/4otcMoM
All Food is Good Food by Molli Jackson Ehlert
This book reinforces the concept that all food is good. Instead of labeling certain foods as good or bad, it talks about how all foods can serve a purpose, and that the best idea is to listen to your body and have a mixture of foods. A unique viewpoint compared to all of the food category books that stays away from shaming. Good for young children through middle elementary school.
https://amzn.to/4ovo644
