BATHROOM BOOGIE
by Clare Foges ; illustrated by Al Murphy
When the family’s away, the toiletries play in this follow-up to Kitchen Disco (2017).
“When you kids go off to school, / And grown-ups go to work… / Your bathroom comes ALIVE / and all the things there go berserk!” The antics of various articles are depicted in ultrabright colors and tight rhymes. Shampoo plays “funky beats,” then “rinses and repeats.” The toothpaste “wriggles” and “squeezes,” the loofahs “dance like they don’t care,” and the mouthwash has “minty moves” all his own. Inevitably, the party gets a bit out of hand. The bathroom is a mess, and the family will be home soon. Shampoo organizes the cleanup. “And don’t forget the foam!” The two kids in the family notice that some bathroom articles have moved…and wonder. Party on! Foges’ punny text keeps a steady beat, but it is repetitive, missing an opportunity to present more vocabulary. Murphy makes each page a riot of shapes and colors. The various bathroom items have googly eyes, smiling mouths, and pipestem arms and legs, displaying a remarkable amount of personality. Readers can (and should) access the “Bathroom Boogie” video on YouTube, where a plummy British voice (kind of) raps the verse and children join him to sing the chorus. Notably, the family is biracial; the kids’ mom is white and the dad is black.
May inspire some bathroom fun among readers; get those sponges ready….
(Picture book. 2-5)