The Brave Fuzzy by Eliana Miao & Johanna Gousset – The Strawberry Post
A book review of a fun picture book teaching kids all about the gut microbiome in a fun way involving creatures called fuzzies.
About The Brave Fuzzy
Title: The Brave Fuzzy: A Gut Microbiome Story
Author: Eliana Miao
Illustrator: Johanna Gousset
Publisher: Pen & Pipette
Genre: Children’s picture book
Book format reviewed: Digital
Sweet Strawberries: 
Description: There once was an orange fuzzy who was looking for a home…
There was also a busy village of blue fuzzies who had their own rhythms…
…until a huge storm destroyed their village and the orange fuzzy blew in.
Find out what happens when these two worlds collide. Is this the home the orange fuzzy always dreamed of? Will the blue fuzzies let the orange one stay?
With a mix of evocative and cozy watercolors, this tender story from award-wining Eliana Miao and the Pen & Pipette team explores the importance of being included and feeling seen.
Culminating in a final twist, readers learn that the world of fuzzies lives inside them, introducing young readers to the science of the gut microbiome.
Learn how tiny lives can make a big difference…
…both outside and in.
*Free copy provided by Books Forward for review…
My review and thoughts on The Brave Fuzzy
Aw, what a fun picture book teaching kids about the gut microbiome in such a great and creative way! There’s a village near the river full of blue fuzzies. They go about their day collecting crystals, growing food and have a peaceful life. But one day an orange fuzzy enters the village. Other fuzzies are wary, but will one blue fuzzy get to know the orange one, and what will happen when they learn to get along? This picture book is filled with some lovely illustrations and text.
The story begins by introducing the village of blue fuzzies as we see them going about their day growing food, collecting crystals and wandering about. But soon an orange fuzzy enters the village, a fuzzy with no home and he is ignored by the other fuzzies. However one blue fuzzy shows kindness and friendship to the orange fuzzy and they are soon doing something together which makes the village better than it was before. The book has a good ending and I like how the next page is then a double page spread explaining everything about the gut microbiome through the story of the fuzzies.
The information on the page about the gut microbiome is easy to understand and broken into small one sentence sections among illustrations which makes it easy to understand. I love how this book finds a creative way of introducing the biology of the gut microbiome to children through this story of little fuzzy creatures and how easy it can be to understand how they affect your own wellbeing and health. I don’t think I ever saw a book about the microbiome when I was a child and I know I would have enjoyed reading this one, even though at first I didn’t quite realise what the birds or crystals represented in the story (though it becomes clear through reading that last page with more information).
The book is filled with some lovely illustrations which have some nice details in them too. Every double page is filled with a lot to see and I love how the fuzzies and their village look, especially later on when the orange fuzzy has been welcomed. This book is a clever way of introducing some science and biology to children who can then think about their own gut and how it works, and I love the little facts about the microbiome on that later page. Overall a fun picture book showing a story of being kind and friendly towards others while also being a perfect book to get kids interested in biology and health in a fun way.
Other picture books teaching kids about science
-Read review – Let’s Learn About CHEMISTRY by Stephanie Ryan, PhD & Christine Cagara
What do you think of this book? What books would you recommend for teaching about the human body? Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂
