What Happens to Your Food?

This book does not gloss over the realities of eating and excreting and is therefore not for the squeamish. It offer a thorough and clear explanation of each stage of the digestive process for children from about seven upwards. You could read it to the whole class but I think it might be best read to a group or by children themselves in pairs. Do not read it just before you intend to enjoy a meal! The bold, often witty illustrations link perfectly with the text. Included are just the sorts of specific information children like. For example, the book shows a large elongated balloon and explains that an adult's stomach, when empty, is about this size. Actually the metaphor of stomach as balloon is most apt as stomachs expand and contract swiftly to receive and dispose of food with the flexibility of a balloon. Two other helpful images are of food being nudged along the food tube from mouth to anus rather like toothpaste being squeezed out of a tube and the large intestine working like a sieve, 'sucking water out of the sloppy food through the sides.' We are told about germs in food that has gone bad and about the different foods we need to stay healthy. This is done with a light touch. I just wonder why the terms carbohydrates, protein and so on were not used. This, though, is a tiny quibble about such an excellent book. The flaps are powerful. Some show beautifully clear, labelled cross sections - for example of the tongue, windpipe and food tube. No doubt children will giggle a bit at what the very last flap, a bathroom door, reveals.