Bear Has a Belly

In Bear Has a Belly, Jane Whittingham uses beautiful side-by-side photographs of animals and children with their having something in common. Fox has a nose… do you? (Yes!) Frog has a tongue… do you? (Yes!). This wildlife themed exploration of bodies and connection will likely delight the youngest readers among us.

The physical book is what Pajama Press calls a “between” book: not quite a board book, not quite a picture book… but something in between.” The paper weight makes tearing difficult but not impossible. The padded cover is pleasant, and the format feels just slightly grown up. My daughters loved carting it around the house.
The book focuses on North American animals, making it particularly lovely for making comparisons. These are animals you just might see in your own neighborhood (though I personally don’t enjoy moose visits). Children can point to their own bodies, experiment with sounds, and notice other connections between the animals and the children pictured. Overall, Bear Has a Belly is a great book with many tools for families and readers to explore on their reading journey.