THE BRAVE FUZZY

A picture book about the microbes that live inside the human gut, co-authored by a collective of high school students.

In a village by a river, several round, anthropomorphic blobs called blue fuzzies live in little round huts. One day, a storm damages their homes, and as the blue fuzzies try to rebuild, a stranger—an orange fuzzy—arrives to live with them. The blue villagers shun the newcomer until one of them realizes that “sometimes, the lonely are right in front of you” and befriends the stranger. Together, they build a village “filled with the warmth of feeling seen and being known” that eventually welcomes red and yellow fuzzies, too. When another storm arrives, the town’s residents weather it well, due to the strength of their many varicolored vines. On the last pages, the authors reveal that the fuzzies represent microbes, whose village lives inside us all, helping us to digest food and keeping us healthy. The book is credited to Pen & Pipette (a group of nearly two dozen high schoolers) and their executive director, Miao; together, they’ve delivered a superbly tender and emotional tale, followed by easy-to-grasp introductory science. Although the fuzzies are merely circles with limbs, Gousset’s watercolor-like illustrations do a wonderful job of bringing them to life.

A remarkable blend of science, storytelling, and art.