Sun in My Tummy

Written by Laura Alary

Illustrated by Andrea Blinick

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-241-7

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

April 2022

 

What might you see in a bowl of oatmeal? Sure, there will be the cereal and the milk and perhaps, as in this child's bowl, some lovely blueberries. But, if you look a little closer, you'll see the seeds that grew, the bushes that caught the sun's energy, and a cow "munching sweet green grass, that grew in soil, watered by rain, that came from clouds, formed by oceans, warmed by the sun." There's a lot of sunshine and goodness in that bowl of oatmeal and it all ends up in this child's tummy.

From Sun in My Tummy by Laura Alary, illus. by Andrea Blinick

Just as she was snug in her bed, a child thinks about oat grains that grew deep in the earth to produce the oats that are basis for the oatmeal her mother is making for their breakfast. With the sun, both she and the grains awoke, thirsty and hungry.

From Sun in My Tummy by Laura Alary, illus. by Andrea Blinick

What follows is a look at how the oats grew with the sun and the rain. And those lovely blueberries? The magic that we know of as photosynthesis happened in order to produce the plant that would produce the berries.

The leaves of that blueberry bush 

caught the sun energy and used it 

to break apart gases in the air.

Then they put the pieces back together

to make something new: sugar.

Food from thin air!

Laura Alary then speaks to the pollination and life cycles and with each cereal ingredient she helps children connect the natural world with the deliciousness in their food. Too many children and adults have a disconnect between what they eat and where it came from. They either don't know about milk cows and grains and fruit and how they are raised or cultivated or harvested or cannot see the connection between farms and how the food gets into the stores from which we often buy. By associating the sun of our environment with the warmth in our belly from hearty food, Laura Alary relates science concepts like photosynthesis, energy and life cycles with the familiar events like waking in the morning, having breakfast, and growing. Connecting the familiar with the unfamiliar is always an important means to forge learning.

From Sun in My Tummy by Laura Alary, illus. by Andrea Blinick

Like Laura Alary whose earlier picture book, What Grew in Larry's Garden (2020), focused on the outdoors, Andrea Blinick takes her artwork into the natural world to shine. As it did in Outside, You Notice (2021), Andrea Blinick's illustrations bring the sunshine and the rain and the animals and plants to flourish with energy. Whether that energy is solar or metabolic or spiritual, it carries the importance of sustaining life in its many forms and Andrea Blinick's art which is a combination of gouache, coloured pencil, collage and chalk pastel gives the text of that message the brightness and textures of that life and energy.

 

Perfect for STEM lessons about plants and life cycles, Sun in My Tummy will brighten any classroom or library and help young children understand how the sun in their tummies, whether oatmeal or another cereal, got there.

What Grew in Larry's Garden

Written by Laura Alary

Illustrated by Kass Reich

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0108-7

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

April 2020

What Grew in Larry's Garden is far more than meets the eye, or the tongue, in this picture book about fruits and vegetables that help build community.

Larry, a teacher, has a small but impressive garden next door to young Grace who likes to help him.

From What Grew in Larry's Garden by Laura Alary, illus. by Kass Reich

There were buttery yellow carrots and purple potatoes. Rainbow chard and scarlet runner beans. Rosy tomatoes the color of ripe peaches. And black ones with red insides.

Together they garden, nurturing the plants and enjoying harvests. When problems arise, like bugs and squirrels, Larry always says, "We can figure this out." His positivity and efforts lead him to encourage his students to grow their own tomato plants from seed and to gift them to others, explaining in letters why they'd been chosen. From gifts of thanks or apologies or to helping them face their fears, Larry was actually allowing his students to connect with others.

From What Grew in Larry's Garden by Laura Alary, illus. by Kass Reich

But when a neighbour adds a big panel to the top of his fence, blocking the sun out of Larry's garden, it's Grace who figures out a way to make things right, echoing back to Larry that he will just need to "Wait and see" what her idea is.

From What Grew in Larry's Garden by Laura Alary, illus. by Kass Reich

Laura Alary based What Grew in Larry's Garden on Toronto teacher Larry Zacharko's project to use tomato plants to help his students connect with their community. Although this endeavour is but a portion of the story of What Grew in Larry's Garden, the whole story is supportive of the need to build community, whether it is by gifting a tomato plant, helping others, making compromises or reaching out to those who seem immovable. Laura Alary makes sure to communicate through her text that community comes with time and effort and is worth both.

Versatile artist Kass Reich–she has written and illustrated a series of Hamster concept books as well as provided art for the Megabat series and other picture books–uses gouache and coloured pencils to bring Larry's garden and his community to life. She uses colour and shape to embrace the reader in a neighbourhood of picturesque houses and arboreal splendour and a garden so textured with life that it's hard to believe there's room for Larry and Grace and a ginger cat to work and play. Fortunately, their efforts at creation and connection produce far more than a garden of fruits and vegetables. They also create a closeness of people and place.

What Grew in Larry's Garden is rosy reciprocity, budding bonds and sprouts of support. Ah, for every garden to be this lush. 

From What Grew in Larry's Garden by Laura Alary, illus. by Kass Reich