OH NO, GOTTA GO #2

Elya has created yet another winner in this natural followup to Oh No, Gotta Go! (2003). this time, the young heroine is on a picnic at the park with her parents. Having learned from her previous experience, she hasn’t had anything to drink and she used the bathroom before leaving home. So when Papá mentions it at the park, she knows she doesn’t have to go. But as she pedals home she soon realizes, “There’s more than one reason to sit on the pot.” “ ‘The salad! The spinach! The green espinaca!’ ‘Why, that means,’ Papá said, ‘she has to go caca!’ ” Out-of-breath readers will race along with the frantic parents and breathe a sigh of relief when they make it just in time. Elya’s rhyming couplets perfectly capture both the toddler’s casual attitude and her sudden urgency for the baño. The mix of Spanish in the text is seamless, the words easily placed in context with the aid of Avril’s pastel and acrylic illustrations (a glossary is also provided). Facial expressions and body language are masterfully presented, adding to the humor of the text. Young children will especially chuckle at the road’s transformation into a steaming volcano, a quite apropos metaphor. This tale about the necessary is definitely necessary. (Picture book. 2-7)