GASSY CASSIE

A flatulent youngster finds friends.

Coming out with a bang, seconds after Cassie’s birth “she rocketed into the air with a fart” and never stopped. School proves an immediate challenge, with the other children quickly coming up with the improbable taunt “Gassy Cassie, Gassy Cassie, / is a stinky little lassie!” But the light-skinned, redheaded child manages to make friends with a new girl, a dark-skinned child named Rita, who, for some unexplained reason, can’t smell Cassie’s regular off-gassing and seems unbothered by her social status. Exaggerated, cartoonish images depict the two of them enjoying several spreads of adventures, starry fart-clouds trailing behind them on a roller coaster and at the beach. Translated from Spanish, the book relies on the same framework as countless stories about difference; on a class field trip, Cassie unwittingly repels “the biggest, baddest bear they had ever seen,” and suddenly her classmates decide that she’s both a hero and worthy of friendship despite her unrelenting digestive issues. Adults concerned with gut health might wonder why Cassie’s parents don’t take her to the doctor to figure out the underlying causes of her GI symptoms, and real-life kids might decide to wait for a bear attack before playing with a stinky classmate. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Endless fart references will make kids laugh but that’s about it.