Sure to be music to the ears of potty-training families.
As the title indicates, a song about pooping in the potty.
Best known for writing several of the early Pete the Cat books, Litwin opens this picture book with the lines “CATS poop in their own little box. / MOUNTAIN GOATS poop as they climb over rocks.” Ensuing pages show other animals (and eventually dinosaurs and extraterrestrials) pooping, too, but the book’s main goal seems to be to use humor to inspire human children to do their business on the potty. As the refrain states in part, “But the BIG BOYS and BIG GIRLS are pooping in the potty. / And then we hear a happy sound. // FLUSH!” The text has a rhythmic, rhyming cadence that clearly lends itself to singing while accompanying childlike illustrations of smiling, defecating animals and children of differing skin colors enhance the humor of the text. Children should respond positively to the silly depictions of “SPACE MARTIANS poop[ing] by a faraway star” (space Martian dung is gray, evidently) and a picture of “Mr. Eric” (so indicated by a license plate) exclaiming “A little BLUEBIRD just pooped on my car.” While there’s no sheet music in the book, a note on the jacket flap prompts readers to find a recording of the song at the publisher’s website. Listeners will be treated to an upbeat tune, flushing sound effects, kids’ voices chiming in with Litwin’s, and perhaps just a few fartlike sounds for good measure.
Sure to be music to the ears of potty-training families. (Picture book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 13, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7950-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.
This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.
Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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