Belly Buttons

ISBN: 0764152165

Author: Langreuter, Jutta

Condition: New

From School Library JournalPreSchool-Grade 2-Eddie the dog and Alabaster the cat visit their friend Lucy, "a little girl pig." As they watch her take a mud bath, they notice that in addition to her two rows of nipples, she has a curious "button" in the middle of her tummy. This discovery leads to lots of poking and searching for belly buttons under Eddie's and Albert's fur. Next they grab and search Daisy, a passing duck. After offering various far-fetched explanations about the possible uses of belly buttons, the three talk to Lucy's mother. She explains the role of the special cord while babies are in "mommy's tummy." No one mentions why ducks don't have a belly button. The friends then devise a new pastime: blowing on one another's belly buttons for laughs. The illustrations of the cartoonlike animals are adequate, but the images of holding others down to search for body parts are disconcerting. Someone wanting to use the navel as a discussion point about prenatal growth should consider Laurence Pringle's Everybody Has a Belly Button (Boyds Mills, 1997). Langreuter's work is more likely to confuse and frighten than inform or entertain.Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, MankatoCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.Product DescriptionEddie the puppy, Lucy the piglet, and Alabaster the cat discover that they have belly buttons, wonder what they're for, and learn from Mommy pig that a baby is nourished by its mother's body through the umbilical cord.