Burp! The Most Interesting Book You'll Ever Read about Eating

by Diane Swanson, Rose Cowles (Illustrator)

The stomach grumbles, growls, and roars. The curious will finally discover what causes those noisy rumbles, what food is made of, how the body breaks it down, how sight and smell affect what we taste and many more incredible facts to digest.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

40 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

About the author

Diane Swanson grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta. When she was a child, she collected rocks, watched insects, went swimming, and ate ice cream cones. She could make paper dolls and play the piano. Diane held pet shows and circuses for the neighborhood children. And to make a little cash she gathered cardboard boxes and sold them to the local grocery stores. She listened to radio programs like The Cisco Kid and played cowboys. Diane also loved to read. The Secret Garden was one of her favorites and she always wrote stuff—all kinds of stuff, especially her own adventures.

Diane’s dog, Sammy, was her ever-present pal. On summer mornings they would walk to a lake and scour the shore for neat-looking rocks. At home, Sammy would sit by the piano as Diane played, pretending that she had discovered a song that could open the door to a secret passage. Diane recalls that about the only thing they didn’t enjoy together were prairie thunderstorms. Sammy would hide, while Diane loved to watch the lightning flash across the sky. She thought it especially great when a hailstorm broke while they were outside. Then she and Sammy would take cover in the garage and send messages along the clothesline to the house: “We’re stranded! Send cookies!”

Now a full-time author, Diane has made a career of writing fun and informative factual books for kids. She credits the astonishing natural world as the inspiration behind her writing. Children have always influenced her approaches to writing: the child she once was, her own two children, and all the children she knows. One tip that Diane would give to young writers is: “Write what really excites you. No matter what your subject is, if you let your excitement shine through your words, you’ll grab your readers’ interest.”

Diane has published over 70 books for children including her latest with Annick Press, Animal Aha! (Spring 2009), about some of the incredible discoveries made about animal bodies and minds. Other books written by Diane include A Crash of Rhinos, A Party of Jays (2006). The Wonder in Water (2005), is a look at just what's in the wet stuff, from the tiniest drop of sweat to the largest ocean. Tunnels! (2003)is the first in the exciting True Stories from the Edge series. While researching these real-life tunnel stories, Diane unearthed the fascinating true story of two families’ daring 1979 escape over the Berlin Wall in a homemade hot-air balloon. That incredible event didn’t fit the underground theme of Tunnels!, but Diane could not let go of the story’s powerful message of triumph over dangerous political folly. The result is her first picture book, The Balloon Sailors (2003), a creative allegorical storybook based on those inspiring true events.

Other Annick Press titles by Diane include The Dentist & You (2002), Turn It Loose: The Scientist in Absolutely Everybody (2004) and Nibbling on Einstein's Brain (Original 2001, Updated 2009), which has recently been updated and newly illustrated. Her work has earned numerous awards, including the B.C. 2000 Award, the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, and the International Youth Library’s White Raven Award. Her work has also been shortlisted for the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the B.C. Book Prize, the Red Cedar Award, the Silver Birch Award, and many more.

She was one of the original members of the Victoria Chapter of PWAC (Periodical Writers Association of Canada), a member of The Canadian Children’s Book Centre, is a member of CANSCAIP, CWILL, and was a volunteer tutor for Project Literacy.

Diane lives in Victoria, B.C., with her husband. When not working on writing projects,she is busy geocaching, ballroom dancing and raising bonsai trees. She also often visits schools and attends conferences.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

So one of the reading challenges from the Library this year is to read a picture book. Well, Heck, got a gazillion of them from when the kids were little, now use ‘em for the grandkids. Found one that interested me, “Burp,” which goes into age-appropriate detail about all kinds of digestive stuff. I view it as sort of a kids’ version of Mary Roach’s “Gulp.” And, of course, a worthy companion to “The Gas We Pass” and “Everybody Poops.”

For a little book, this one covers a lot of information, from how your body breaks down food into its tiniest components, and how those components are variously used to maintain our health, to wacky tales of people who eat anything, and I mean anything, to how to do an experiment with your family regarding how fast or slowly they eat depending on what background music is played.

We also get a guided tour of the alimentary canal, the digestive system from tooth to rectum, with lively illustrations (both realistic and fanciful) along the way. And the author and illustrator throw in a bunch of short, fun factoids, such as: “You have about 16 million smell sensors; a rabbit has about 100 million.” “Even if your bladder is nearly empty, stress can cause its muscles to tighten, making you want to ‘go.’” “In 1989, nine climbers from Australia held a top-of-the-world dinner party at the peak of Mt. Huascaran, Peru – over 6700 meters (22’000 ft.) high. They climbed up with a tale, chairs and a three-course dinner.”

Ms. Swanson and Ms. Cowles manage to pack a LOT of information into just 40 pages, and it even includes an index! I liked this book a lot, seems appropriate for children maybe 11 or so years old; younger readers would like the colorful illustrations but would get lost in the details. Five stars!

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book at a garage sale not long ago, and I haven't yet read it thoroughly. It looks really cool. I enjoy books about the human body written in a way I can understand (even if the writing was intended for an 8 year old.)

[Hawa Adaweh · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book will learn you ( if you don't know ) how to burp.