Guts: Our Digestive System

Guts: Our Digestive System

By: Seymour Simon

HarperCollins Publishers ©2005

ISBN#: 9780060546519

Seymour Simon’s Guts is a wonderful photo essay explaining the process of digestion. He explains the whole process in concise paragraphs matched with large, scientific pictures that are sure to catch reluctant readers’ attention. The text is simply displayed on alternating black and white pages which is a stark contrast to the colorful full-page photos. Simon does not dumb-down any of the content. He uses the scientific term for each concept and adds explanatory information to ensure understanding. Simon also references various diseases associated with different organs and the importance of a healthy diet.

This book is a great way to introduce the digestive system to a science class. It could also be a starting point for a class project on digestion. The teacher could read this book and then break the students into groups, each group taking a different organ.

Horn Book Magazine—“Simon takes advantage of children’s familiarity with their bodies as well as their misconceptions—gently confronting these ideas, then providing straightforward and remarkably clear explanations” (Ford).

Booklist—“In his signature style, accessible without being cute or condescending, he describes the complex facts and processes of the physiology, from the time food enters the mouth until all the various organs transform it into energy, nutrients, and waste” (Rochman).

Works Cited:

Ford, Danielle J. "Guts: Our Digestive System." Horn Book Magazine 81.4 (2005): 492. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Oct. 2010.

Rochman, Hazel. "Guts: Our Digestive System (Book)." Booklist 101.13 (2005): 1190. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Oct. 2010.