Early Book Review: A Garden in Your Belly: Meet the Microbes in Your Gut by Masha D'yans

 A Garden in Your Belly: Meet the Microbes in Your Gut, written and illustrated by Masha D'yans, is currently scheduled for release on October 6 2020. Your belly is full of tiny creatures—and they love to eat! Along the river of your gut, tiny creatures move, eat, and grow. Learn more about the garden of microscopic flora growing inside the body and come on a journey that explains an important biological concept: the microbiome, the health of which affects everything in our bodies. Did you know that some foods are better for your microbiome (and you!) than others? Striking, original watercolor illustrations keep things from getting too gross. Informational back matter goes further into the science of the microbiome and reveals amazing facts about the gut.

A Garden in Your Belly is a colorfully illustrated book that helps explain to young readers how important the microbiome that lives inside of all of is. The important information is written in a way that is accessible and nonthreatening, because learning that a bunch of little things live inside you could be scary to some readers. I think the artwork helps keep the tone light and fun, and still shows the danger of not taking care of our gut health without being over the top. The message is very well conveyed, and I think it is well done. I really enjoyed the more in depth information at the end of the book, interesting facts, and the glossary included in the end pages. I think this book would be a good addition to school, library, and classroom shelves. It would also be a good tool in households where someone might have digestive health problems, that make this information even more important and relevant.