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A Garden in Your Belly: Meet the Microbes in your Gut

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A Garden in Your Belly: Meet the Microbes in Your Gut  Written and illustrated by Masha D’yans
Format: Book
Who It’s For: Kids

Did you know that you have a river in your body? Its called your intestines and around the river there is a “garden” too. This garden is called your gut microbiome and it’s chockful of teeny tiny creatures who LOVE to eat, fight off germs, take out the trash inside us and more. You cant see it (except with a microscope) but their presence in our bodies make us who we are! But how did they get there? Are they good creatures or bad? (spoiler alert: you’ve got some of each!) What do they look like?  What are they DOING in there??  A Garden in Your Belly will help kids gain a new understanding of the “why” of eating healthy food, playing outside and drinking water and how those things strengthen our “garden”. They will learn how we can take charge of our own health by feeding the good gut microbes, which help make us healthy in our bodies AND even our minds. The gorgeous, funny watercolor illustrations of the tiny creatures in our gut really steal the show!

Science nerd that I am, I loved this book and take it from me, A Garden In Your Belly will definitely blow your young scientist’s mind!

Find A Garden in Your Belly in the catalog

This is Your Brain on Birth Control: The Surprising Science of Women, Hormones, and the Law of Unintended Consequences

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This is Your Brain on Birth Control: The Surprising Science of Women, Hormones, and the Law of Unintended Consequences by Sarah E. Hill
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults and Teens

Will your moods go up—or down—once you’re on the pill?

Does using hormonal birth control change your ability to remember events in your life?

Can being on the pill influence who you choose to marry?

Scientists have found the answers, but the vast majority of women have no idea that they should even be asking these questions. This is Your Brain on Birth Control aims to change that situation. Sarah Hill, a psychologist (and birth-control user) explains how a seemingly simple decision about which method of pregnancy prevention to use can affect far more of your life than you’d ever suspect.

This book is no anti-birth-control polemic, though. Hill argues that the best path forward is not the restriction of access, but the spread of information. Women, once adequately informed, can make the best decisions for themselves about this matter of critical importance to women’s (and, it turns out, men’s) lives.

This is Your Brain on Birth Control feels like a conversation with your witty best friend who happens to have a PhD. If you’ve ever used hormonal birth control, plan to use it in the future, or are close to someone who does, you just might want to find it in the catalog.

What the Eyes Don’t See A Story of Crisis, Resistance and Hope in an American City

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What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance and Hope in an American City
By Mona Hanna-Attisha
Who it’s for:  Adults

In 2014, the water source for residents living in the city of Flint, Michigan was switched from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River, which was considered less costly.  Residents were immediately concerned that the water smelled and tasted bad, and looked dirty, but public officials continued to say that the water was fine.  In August of 2015, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician and professor at Hurley Medical Center in Flint was informed by a friend that the residents’ concerns were well founded.  Not only was the water dirty, it also contained very high levels of lead.  Concerned about her young Flint patients, Dr.  Mona (as she likes to be called) immediately sought out test data which would reveal whether high levels of lead were actually present in the blood tests of these children.

In What the Eyes Don’t See, Dr. Mona gives her own account of the crisis.  Armed with data that confirmed high levels of lead were present in the blood of Flint children, Dr. Mona stopped at nothing to get local government to switch the water source and save Flint’s children from the devastating, life-long effects of lead poisoning.  She shares stories of her heritage, her belief in activism, her work at Hurley Medical Center, and the small team of supporters who helped her initiate this change.       Find it in our catalog.

What the Eyes Don’t See has been chosen as the 2019 One Maryland One Book.  Take some time to read this gripping story as it is shared through discussion and programming throughout the state of Maryland this fall.  Register to join us at the Leonardtown Library for the Director’s Book Club on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 12:15 p.m..  St. Mary’s County Library Director, Michael Blackwell, will host a book discussion of this book.

Joy’s Simple Food Remedies: Tasty Cures for Whatever’s Ailing You

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Title: Joy’s Simple Food Remedies: Tasty Cures for Whatever’s Ailing You by Joy Bauer
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

The purpose of this book is to offer healthy food suggestions to alleviate the distress of everyday common ailments.  Each chapter addresses a complaint and gives a detailed explanation of what causes it and how to combat it.  Five foods are highlighted that can offer relief, and the science of each and why it can help is explained.  Recipes for each food follows, with clear instructions and excellent photographs. There are sixty recipes designed to help with aches and pains, increase energy, and reduce anxiety and stress.

Joy Bauer is a well-known leading health authority.  She is a nutrition consultant for the Today Show, Woman’s Day magazine, and the New York City Ballet.  She has written twelve best-selling books.

Find it in our catalog.