Guts

Title: Guts: Our Digestive System

Author:  Seymour Simon

 Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: 2005

Genre/Format: Picture Book/ Nonfiction

Summary: A detailed explanation of how food is digested as it travels along the digestive system in the human body.

Personal thoughts: Simon’s books never stay in my classroom library. Both boys and girls will enjoy this book, although, I’ve had many a boy not want to put it back on the shelf when the bell rang. (Many of Simon’s books have disappeared off my shelves over a number of years.  If I didn’t own the book, I might be tempted to take it home and not return it either.) I’ve read several of Simon’s books and never cease to amaze me the quality of actual photographs included in his books.  

Read Together:   grades 2-7
Read without help: grades 4-7
Read With:  The Heart: Our Circulatory System,,Seymour Simon (1996); Muscles: Our Muscular System, Seymour Simon (2000)

Snippet of Text:  “When you swallow food, it doesn’t just fall down into your stomach. In fact, you can eat standing on your head (don’t try it, though; you might choke) and still get food to your stomach. Food is pushed along by two sets of muscles that line the esophagus. The muscles tighten and relax, pushing food along the tube—something like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. This movement is called peristalsis.” (Unnumbered page)

“Point to your stomach. Surprise! It’s not behind your belly button, but higher up, tucked just beneath the left side of your rib cage.” (Unnumbered page)

Connections to Reading:  Activating background knowledge, Making connections, Vocabulary, Author’s purpose

Connections to Writing: Expository—The human body is an amazing machine that is made up of several body systems. Write a composition about the role of the digestive system in your body.

Connections to Writing: Narrative— (1) Create a Top 10 list of why the digestive system is important to the human body; (2) You are a piece of bread and you love to travel to new places. Create a dialogue piece between two pieces of bread traveling along in the digestive system. 

 Connections to Art: Create an ABC book about the digestive system.

Topics Covered: Translated to Spanish:  No

Translated to other languages: No

Other formats: No