The Runaway Belly Button
by John Flannery (Author) Mika Song (Illustrator)
In the charming and lighthearted picture book, The Runaway Belly Button, John Flannery and Mika Song bring to life the sweetly goofy Belly Button as she reminds you how nice it is to be sparkling clean.
Grace loved to get dirty. But she was also pretty good at getting clean--she took proper care of Hands, paid extra attention to Feet, and even remembered to scrub behind Ears. There was just one body part she tended to forget: Belly Button. Day after day, Belly Button got dirtier... and stinkier... and filthier. Until after one particularly neglectful bath, Belly Button decides she'll have to get outie there to look and smell great again.
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Publishers Weekly
Grace's navel is sick and tired of getting "dirtier... and stinkier... and filthier," writes Flannery (Beard Boy), especially since Grace is so good at keeping the rest of her body clean ("We smell great!" say her feet, beaming). So Belly Button--drawn by Song (Love, Sophia on the Moon) as a tan circle with stick arms and legs, a resolute face, and a tousle of black hair that matches her owner's--makes a break for it, "down Grace's leg, through the house, and out the back door." Thanks to an encounter with Grace's car-washing father, Belly Button finally discovers the joys of being clean. She also finds that the outside world is fraught with predatory birds, sticky bubble gum, and, worst of all, an icky storm sewer, rendered in menacing scrawls and swirls of color. But Grace doesn't give up her runaway anatomy, and once the two are safely back home, she honors her promise to keep Belly Button tidy. The adventure portion of the story feels a bit familiar, but the novelty of a sentient navel protagonist enables this book to work as both solid entertainment and useful hygiene instruction. Ages 3-6. (Sept.)
Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
John Flannery is the author of Beard Boy and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. He has had a belly button for as long as he can remember, and yes, dirt does get stuck in it. John lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Mika Song is a children's writer and illustrator who makes stories about sweetly funny outsiders. She grew up in Manila, Philippines and in Honolulu, Hawaii before moving to New York to study at Pratt Institute. She studied and worked in animation before getting into children's books. Her authored and illustrated books include Tea with Oliver and Donut Feed the Squirrels.JUV051000 - Juvenile Fiction | Imagination & Play
JUV009120 - Juvenile Fiction | Concepts | Body
Baths
Hygiene
Belly button
Navel
