B Is for Bellies: A Joyous Rhyming Picture Book Celebrating Every Body for Kids (Ages 4-8)

by Rennie Dyball, Mia Saine (Illustrator)

A joyous picture book celebration of every body from A to Z! Letter by letter, B Is for Bellies  is a joyous picture book celebration of every body from A to Z! This ode to self-love and kindness encourages us to remember that every body is worthy of respect, whether it be letting go on the dancefloor or engaging in peaceful rest. Rennie Dyball’s bouncy rhyming text features affirmational ABCs paired with Mia Saine’s vibrant illustrations that showcase an inclusive range of body shapes and sizes, different races, abilities, and gender expressions. This fun and fulfilling read aloud for younger readers and their caregivers emphasizes that all bodies are good bodies.

Genres: Picture Books, Bodies, Childrens, Social Justice, Disability, Nonfiction, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

Published July 11, 2023

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It's an alphabet book, but celebrating you and everybody! The illustrations are very diverse and wonderful. I love how the text rhymes and flows so well. Even though there's a lot of pages and it may seem like a lot of text or pages, the rhyming flow doesn't even make it seem like it's long. It's quite lovely. Highly recommend this book!

[Ghee Emcee · Rating 5 out of 5]

YES!

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, please! More of this.

I kept thinking this was the same creator as Bodies are Cool.

[Helen Chimbos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book that helps everyone celebrate their body. I love this book and the meaning behind it, I definitely recommend !

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book with many different body representations.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

B is for Bellies is an instant classic. It reads so smoothly and easily, for starters—so, none of that parent-torture where the language just does not flow and you are tripping over your words because you are so tired and the sentence construction sucks (this is my biggest complaint as a parent reading books to my kids). And the message, of course, is wonderful. B is for Bellies feels so natural—it was really easy to have conversations about each letter and about the artwork (and pausing to discuss each page did not break up the rhythm of the language, another of my complaints about picture books). All of the letters/messages feel like conversations you would choose to have with your kid about love and acceptance for yourself and for others. B is for Bellies is a picture book that should be around for a long long time. I’ll be gifting copies to friends and relatives.

[Y.Poston]

An ABC through acceptance of all bodies!

[Kelly]

This book was fantastic! It's great about talking about diverse bodies, what can be hurtful, different places to show off your body, and it rhymes really well.

[Christie Kaaland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could like this title because the topic is important, needed one: positive body image. It is a digitally illustrated alphabet book with simple 4-line rhymes and accompanying illustrations supposedly about improving one's body image, but most of the letters represent very broad terms that have nothing to do with body image: everything (E), original (O), reflection (R), talking (T), understanding (U).

[Erin Quinn-Kong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book could not have come at a more perfect time! My 8-year-old daughter is more and more aware each day of the different shapes and sizes of her classmates, and my son is about to start kindergarten. I'm glad I have a book like this to use as a jumping off point to start conversations with them both about bodies, diversity, and health. The writing is fresh, thoughtful, and smart, and the bright, colorful illustrations are so fun. Perfect for ages 2 and up.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an alphabet book. It's an alphabet book about DIVERSITY.

Alphabetical entries by Rennie Dyball are clever, and picture book reader-appropriate.

Illustrations by Mia Saine are clever too.

Here's one of my favorite examples:

I is for inside, where beauty reside3s.
You are more than a body.
Your spirit's your guide.

FIVE STAR inspiring, that's this picture book.

[Annemarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the message and the diversity in the illustrations. My issue is that there are only 2 actual fat people in this book. There are several kids who have baggy clothes? Maybe they are supposed to be fat? 2 adults, facing away from the reader, are the only people above midsize I could find in the pages.

[Steph]

Turn/Level: 1/3

Body Diversity, Our Bodies, Kindness

Though this does lightly touch on LGBT themes, it is indirect enough that even those offended by lgbt stuff would have to stretch to find offense.

[Aolund · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet body-love ABC book with each letter of the alphabet featuring a different part of the body or simple ways that we can cultivate a more body-just world, all in rhyming text.

Themes: Body, Body Justice, We're All the Same/We're All Different
Age range: All ages

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celebrates so many kinds of bodies and people! It actually makes the alphabet format work quite well. I'm glad the illustrations were so diverse and representative, but the style of them wasn't really my cup of tea.

[Cheryl A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't wow me, but does clearly make the point that every body is wonderful and deserves to be loved and treated well with healthy habits. Recommended if you're interested in sharing it with children that you know.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A celebration of all bodies and how different they all are. A good representation of skin tones, abilities, and differences that we all have. Not my favorite alphabet book, but good for celebrating bodies and all they do for us.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written alphabet book that takes readers through the many reasons to love ourselves and celebrate all the different types of bodies there are. They rhyming text captures the acceptance and care for each person.

[Abbigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly don't love the cover, and my first impression was that I didn't like the simple illustrations, but the colors throughout the book felt a lot more vibrant than the cover shows. I really liked this body-positive ABC book.

[Elissa Luckhardt]

this inclusive childrens picture book goes through the whole alphabet to feature different features or aspects that we all have, and embraces the differences each of us has with those features, and how beautiful and neat it is that we are all so unique!

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Valuable messaging and inclusive illustrations.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A joyful celebration of every body type from A to Z.

[Ham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awful art, but important message.

[skcocnaH · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars because I appreciate the content. However, the syllabic meter wasn’t very neat. And that always bothers me.

[Alice Araiza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just picked this one up while in the library. I enjoyed the message and I think kids will too. Yay to the author as it's a debut and I look forward more from Dyball!

[Ryan Devlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really uplifting book about being the best you that you can be and celebrating the people around us!

[Jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this via The Kid Lit Mama on IG. Nice for alphabet recognition and body positivity. Though I expected to see bigger bodies and bellies in a book about bellies.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderfully inclusive with rhyming text.

[Rachel Adrianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picture book from the library

A-Z book about bodies and how each one is valuable!

[SamSamSam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a feeling I would have liked this more if it wasn't an alphabet book, but rather just a body positive book like Bodies are Cool.