Sure to provoke giggles, this delightful tale also helps girls to revel in their bodies.
In this debut picture book, girls at a sleepover learn that farts are nothing to be embarrassed about.
Six little girls are enjoying a slumber party. In the morning, a sound erupts, followed by a bad smell near the hostess. The friends try to pin down the nature of this smell, guessing everything from peanuts to broccoli to dirty diapers. An Asian girl with glasses concludes that “it was clearly a FART.” This dismays the hostess, especially when the bespectacled girl proclaims that it’s “foul and not proper” for girls to fart. But another guest, a girl with curly red hair, just laughs, saying that farting is natural. The girls all confess that they, too, toot, making them laugh. The body makes all kinds of noises. In the end, it’s the only body you have, “So appreciate it for all that it does. / And just love yourself, simply because.” In their book, Wheelock and Evans assure girls that there’s nothing unfeminine about normal bodily functions and sounds. Moreover, girls are encouraged not just to accept themselves, but to support one another as well. None of this seems didactic because of the tale’s humor, along with the pleasing rhyme and meter. Sonke’s (The Day Punctuation Came to Town, 2019) illustrations are a huge plus, lively and expressive, and they depict a nicely diverse crew. But in celebrating natural body noises, the story says nothing about politeness and what’s appropriate with company.
Sure to provoke giggles, this delightful tale also helps girls to revel in their bodies.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73313-741-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: House of Tomorrow
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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