Thao Lam’s 2025 picture book Everybelly is a blast. To be more specific, it is lovely and original, with illustrations and focus that are unlike most other picture books.
I’m not the only one who thinks so: Thao has won a long list of awards for her work. She works with collage and textured paper, which makes the illustrations for Everybelly pop. I want to touch them, and to poke the (often exposed) bellies that fill this book.
The book starts with a kid poking their mom in the belly and telling readers they used to live there. The kid then narrates their world, introducing a cast of character (and their bellies) and giving us a very kid-realistic glimpse into each person’s life. The book ends with a return to their mom’s belly, which will always be home.
And…that summary really fails to communicate just how good this book is. Each page is well-designed, as is the whole book. For example, the inside of the front cover includes an image of a cat on its back, round belly up…but it isn’t until a few pages from the end of the book that the kid mentions that you should not “stick your hands in other people’s bellies,” followed by “Trust me, my cat taught me that the hard way.”
Every person in the book (and every belly) gets their own texture, fabric, paper, clothes, shoes, and skin tone; each body gets a unique posture. This is a book to look at, and one made for flipping from page to page.
