Book to read to your child: The Quest to Digest
September 23, 2015

Reading a book brings a lot of joy but encouraging kids to read means that the books have to be as much fun as, or even better than their alternatives: jumping around, playing games in their tablets, running around, pretend plays, making a mess, and more. I started reading books to my now four year old when she was less than a year old. The days when she turned the other way round and began to do something more fun, I had my doubts as to whether I would have the motivation to continue on, or if it was doing her any good. Now, when I see her excitement in taking the book to school, or her trying to read the book, and her eagerness to be able to read the books all by herself, I know they have done some good.

When I embarked on this journey, what I didn’t expect was how much I would learn from reading to her. I loved reading books, but the fun ones mostly, stories, comics, novels, etc. Now, that I see read the books to her, there are books that range in subjects far and wide and they open my eyes too 

I hope to continue on and let you in on some of the fun books as I continue on. When the times are changing and continuing to learn is forever more going to be an ongoing process, finding interesting reads don’t hurt a bit. This particular book, The Quest to Digest, that I will be talking about is getting rave reviews from both my daughter and me since even after months of returning this book to the library, we can’t stop referring back to it and so, I will get a copy to keep.

A Quest to Digest

 

This book written by Mary K. Corcoran and illustrated by Jef Czekaj is a book that I think every kid should read it once and a must in all the schools. It tells the story of the journey of a bite of apple inside the human body. My daughter and I look in the mirror trying to figure out which of our teeth are our molars, incisors, and the canines. We learn how important mucus is in the whole digestive process, why we burp, vomit, and fart (ahem!). It is ever so interesting to say that it is the work of the gases and the bacteria, not us.

It starts out simple but has neatly tucked in the terms like bolus, peristalsis, and much more.

The words and the pictures make it so much fun together. The little green munchkin jumps inside along with the bite of apple, teaches to keep chomping before swallowing in a hilarious manner, is well dressed with boots and an umbrella to make sure he stays dry when the saliva is doing its work, hangs on to the uvula to tell us why it’s there, experiences a rough ride once inside the  stomach, tells us how our food turns into energy before getting rid of the excess out.

This one is a keeper. Just found out that there is one for the circulatory system. This book is next on the list. We will see if it takes on an informative, educational, and fun ride just like the one that The Quest to Digest took us on.
On to more reading and more exploring!

About Sudiksha Joshi

A Learning Advocate and Founder of WeAreAlwaysLearning.com, I am on a mission to give ourselves to think bigger and bolder to forge our way forward and change the world.