Winner of the 2025 Kirkus Prize! 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.
Winner of the 2025 Kirkus Prize! 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.
| Published By | Groundwood Books Ltd — Apr 1, 2025 |
| Specifications | 40 pages | 11 in x 7 in |
| Keywords | child's perspective; new point of view; children and parents; mothers and daughters; strong female characters; girl power; supportive family; exploring the neighborhood; community; diversity; acceptance; belonging; optimism; joy; comfort; funny books for kids; confronting fat shaming; healthy relationships with food; body positivity; positive view of aging; stages of life; 2025 Kirkus Prize winner; |
| Written By |
THAO LAM is the best-selling, critically acclaimed author/illustrator of Happy Birthday to Me, THAO, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, the Globe and Mail, CBC and others. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She lives in Toronto, Ontario. |
| Illustrated by |
THAO LAM is the best-selling, critically acclaimed author/illustrator of Happy Birthday to Me, THAO, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, the Globe and Mail, CBC and others. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She lives in Toronto, Ontario. |
| Written By |
|
THAO LAM is the best-selling, critically acclaimed author/illustrator of Happy Birthday to Me, THAO, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, the Globe and Mail, CBC and others. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She lives in Toronto, Ontario. |
| Illustrated by |
|
THAO LAM is the best-selling, critically acclaimed author/illustrator of Happy Birthday to Me, THAO, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, the Globe and Mail, CBC and others. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She lives in Toronto, Ontario. |
| Audience | ages 3 to 6 / grades P to 1 |
| Reading Levels | Lexile AD600L |
| Key Text Features | illustrations |
| Common Core |
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4 |
Winner, Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature, 2025
Commended, New York Public Library Best Books for Kids, 2025
Commended, Kirkus Best Picture Books of the Year, 2025
Commended, Booklist Editors' Choice, 2025
“A unique, joyful celebration of bellies, bodies, and beauty.” — Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“An exuberant love letter to all sorts of bellies and the people they belong to.” — School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Everybelly's joyful celebration of all bellies and bodies makes it a must-have for all picture book collections.” — Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] loving, wide-ranging tribute to the beauty, variety, and power of individual bodies — and bellies.” — Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“An amusing, original look at bodies.” — Shelf Awareness, STARRED REVIEW
“The delightful Everybelly will elicit warm hugs and belly laughs alike as it celebrates bodily diversity.” — BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“Lam's use of cut paper to create each of the pages gives the story a tactile feeling ... to a visually pleasing effect.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
“Children will be checking everyone's bellies after reading this [book], but be proud — every belly is okay.” — Winnipeg Free Press