• Age: 3 to 6
• Grade: p to 1

From acclaimed picture-book artist Thao Lam comes a joyful celebration of an oft-maligned body part — the belly!

Maddie and her mom spend a sunny day at the local public pool where she meets and greets friends and neighbors. Maddie is waist-high on most of them, and she knows there’s an interesting person behind every belly she passes — like Jackie, the artist with a splatter of ice cream across their belly. Maddie’s splatter painting often leaves Mama speechless, too!

The poolside belly parade keeps Maddie musing: How bellies can make excellent tables, how hard some people work to keep their bellies flat when Maddie prefers her belly full, and how you should never, ever stick your hands in other people’s bellies, no matter how soft and doughy they might look. (Maddie’s cat taught her that the hard way.)

As Maddie dances, swims and makes the long climb up to the diving board, Thao Lam’s celebrated cut-paper collage portrays bellies and bodies of all shapes and sizes — bellies with scars, tattooed bellies, growing bellies, growling bellies, bellies with six-packs, stretch marks, insulin monitors, freckles and more — proving that every belly deserves its place in the sun.

Key Text Features

illustrations

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4

Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

THAO Lam has been creating pictures for as long as she can remember. For her, drawing has always felt as natural as breathing. She has an insatiable love for coloured and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. Passionate about children’s books, Thao is especially interested in visual storytelling. She draws inspiration from the stories she hears, from the beauty in everyday things, and from the work of the many illustrators she admires. As an art buyer for an education publishing company, she has the opportunity to work with thousands of different artists from all around the world. Since studying illustration for three years at Sheridan College in Toronto, Thao has developed her dual careers of illustrating and art buying. Her art works have appeared in publications such as Cricket and Highlight magazines. In 2008, she won the Highlights Five Pewter Plate award for verse illustration of the year. She has twice been chosen for the American Illustration Award. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Thao Lam's profile page