Contemplating Your Bellybutton (My Body Science) (Hardcover)

by Jun Nanao (Author), Tomoko Hasegawa (Illustrator), Amanda Mayer Stinchecum (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2?This book is crude and unsettling. While its main focus is on the origin of the bellybutton, it also includes such heavy-handed tips as, "You shouldn't play with your bellybutton." The narrator speaks to a boy named Tettchan, who is teased about and ashamed of the fact that his bellybutton sticks out. The tone of the story vacillates between didactic statements and inane asides, such as, "the cord healed and dropped off?plop." The cartoon illustrations move from showing an umbilical cord attaching a fully clothed mother and child to a floating baby in utero. While the book's subject is of interest to many children, the treatment is uneven and uninspired. Originally published in Japan in 1985, this book has definitely lost something in translation.?Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 3^-5. The same publisher that brought readers Everyone Poops (1993) now sets its sights a little higher, literally, if not figuratively. A boy named Tettchan wonders why he needs a belly button (especially one that sticks out). An unseen narrator goes on to explain how as a baby Tettchan was attached to his mother by a cord that fed him until he was born and the cord was snipped. The doctor medicated and taped what was left of the cord; several days later the tip healed and dropped off. A few details about keeping the belly button clean follow. The text is tame, but the artwork may raise a few eyebrows, especially the overhead view of Tettchan's mother giving birth. There are also pictures of breasts, breast-feeding, and babies' genitals. The latter are rather ambiguously drawn, but what they lack in precision, they make up for in number. If you need a book for belly button questions, this one has the answers. Ilene Cooper

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Product Details

• Reading level: Baby-Preschool
  
• Hardcover: 28 pages
• Publisher: Kane/Miller Book Publishers (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 091629160X
• ISBN-13: 978-0916291600
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #297,934 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book answers an important question for the preschool set, October 16, 1998

By A Customer

A little boy named Tettchan is embarassed by his funny-looking bellybutton and wonders what function it serves. He discovers that it was once was a cord that connected him to his mother before he was born. This simply written story discusses pregnancy, but not conception. There is a discreet illustration of Tettchan's mother giving birth---her breasts are visible, but not much else---and an explanation of how the umbilical cord was cut. Tettchan's mother then nurses him while his father watches lovingly. The author explains how the cord dries and falls off, and how each person's bellybutton is a memento of his or her birth. A very sweet little book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Kept Secret for Adoption, October 10, 2000

By	Beth O'Malley "Adoptee & 'Older Adoptive Mom'" (Winthrop, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I use this book to help foster/adopted children understand their connection to their their biological parents. The pictures and text are so concrete that children really " get it" in terms of where they "come from". Now I have many children referring to their biological mother as their bellybutton mother. This book is essesntial for adoptive families.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book!, February 3, 2001

By	Kelly "kelly-lcce" (Kennesaw, GA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

My two year old daughter *loves* this book - she'd have me read it 20 times a day if I were willing. This is a great book for explaining pregnancy and birth to a small child. I also love the fact that it portrays the mom giving birth in what appears to be an upright [squating perhaps] position - very nice. [You see mom's breasts, but nothing indiscreet or too graphic.] It also shows mom nursing the new baby, which is very nice as well. This is the best book on "where babies come from" for young children that I've found. Our whole family really enjoys it! [even after about 957 readings....] :)