This funny and frank book speaks directly to kids in everyday language. Dr. Jennifer Gardy’s “up-close-and-personal” explanations about how food fuels our bodies and what happens as it travels from mouth to anus are sure to fascinate young readers. Snappy-titled chapters are organized to follow the complex path food takes as we glean what we need and finally expel the rest. Wuthrich’s cartoon-style illustrations are as upbeat as the text, with speech-bubbled anthropoid organs, microbes, and other materials contributing humour and simple diagrams providing visual clarification. The digestive, enteric nervous, and excretory systems, as well as the microbiome, are all described in scientific terms. More common vernacular is interspersed, and headlines intriguing sections such as “Science of Barfs and Burps,” “Fart Facts,” and “The Power of Poop.”

Other End Matter: Glossary
Images: Colour illustrations, b&w photographs
Bibliography: No
Index: Yes

Source: Books BC - BC Books for Schools

Jennifer Gardy, PhD is a self-described disease detective. Currently deputy director, Surveillance, Data, and Epidemiology for the the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's malaria team, she has worked at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and hosted science documentaries for CBC Television and Discovery Channel Canada, in addition to research and teaching. She splits her time between Seattle and Chicago.

Jennifer Gardy's profile page

Belle Wuthrich is an illustrator and designer specializing in books for young readers. Based in Vancouver, Belle has contributed to more than a dozen books for kids, a number of which have won awards or been republished internationally, including the Montaigne Medal Award–winning Eyes and Spies: How You’re Tracked and Why You Should Know and the Silver Birch Award nominee Eat Up: An Infographic Exploration of Food.

Belle Wuthrich's profile page

• Winner, Lane Anderson Award, Young Readers Category
• Short-listed, Alcuin Society Design Award
• Winner, Intermediate Nonfiction -ILA Children's Book Award
• Long-listed, SLA Information Book Award

“Gardy has digested an impressive amount of information to produce a highly polished gem of a book.”
—Quill & Quire STARRED review

“Readers who have wondered how their bodies turn food into fuel and feces need look no further. All the juicy details are in this book. A fascinating, sometimes funny read that goes well beyond the scatological.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Readers will come away from this lively anatomical odyssey marveling at the complex interplay of digestive organs, enzymes, and microbes ... [A] deliciously digestible disquisition.”
—Booklist

“What exactly is the science behind barfs and burps? And what about poop? Dr. Jennifer Gardy gives up all the juicy details on the magnificent human body.”
—TinyBeans

“Author Dr. Jennifer Gardy turns what would be a stinky situation into something almost magical, how your body’s organs work together to extract all the good stuff from food (like vitamins and minerals) and get rid of the waste by pooping it out.”
—Romper

“Packed with information…. Kids will enjoy the way the information is presented as well as the lighthearted tone…. entertaining, interesting, and informative. ...helpful to students who wonder about, or who are doing research on, this body system.”
—School Library Connection

“Perfect for a curious kid, this book doesn't take the humor out of the situation; instead, it lets kids find out how truly cool it all is.”
—The Guam Daily Post

“I wish my parents had read this book to me growing up. It would have made my time in medical school so much more productive, and made me a much better doctor after that. Should be mandatory reading in all schools.”
—Dr. Alejandro Junger, author of Clean books and founder of the Clean Program