Read the story to the students. Use the questions below to interact with the students as you read aloud (begin on the title page as page one).
- Page 2-3: Read page two. Ask students what they think is happening in the picture. Why is Maddie pointing to her mom’s belly?
- Page 4: Before reading page four, ask students what is happening in the picture. How is Maddie’s mom’s belly and Mr. Popov’s belly alike? After reading the page, ask students what they can tell about what kind of person Mr. Popov is from what Maddie says.
- Page 6: Read pages six and seven. What does Maddie mean when she says Auntie Nam is older than dinosaurs? What makes you think she is old, when you can’t see her face? Why do you think the illustrator chose not to show her face? What is the focus of the illustration?
- Page 8-13: Read each page. Ask students to look at the illustrations. Ask them to describe each belly. What did they learn about what each person likes or dislikes?
- Page 14: Before reading this page, ask students to look at the illustrations. What do they think Maddie is going to do? How can they tell? What is a belly flop? Why do you think Maddie is thinking about hippos and mammals? What does each have to do with bellies?
- Page 16-end of book: Read each page. How does Maddie describe bellies? What are bellies useful for?