DOING BUSINESS

A dressed-up Everyone Poops.

Harris’ art style is similar to Chris Raschka’s, with thick, black outlines and a flat aesthetic. He sets the stage for a whodunit potty-time story by introducing a small, white dog clad in a blue sports jacket. Rather than anthropomorphizing the pooch, the clothing emphasizes the titular word business. Is this character a tiny, canine CEO? No. The dog remains on all fours, and rather than taking a seat in a chair, it scurries under a large desk in the first, wordless spreads. Meanwhile, a loafered human foot strides across the carpeted floor, and then the first words read, “Uh-oh…” as the feet stop before a brown lump on the floor. In the next double-page spread, a finger points: “Whose business is this?” While readers may immediately connect the dots, the narrator rattles off a series of statements to reject other potential culprits. “The baby does business in a diaper,” and “Daddy does business in the bathroom,” are two such statements, with art showing, respectively, a diapered baby and a man seated on a toilet, naked from the waist down and staring into his smartphone. Images show animals (most wearing the blue suit coat, with fish and birds in neckties) at various stages of defecation. “Everyone is doing business,” the text enthuses. “Business is good.” After everybody else is rejected as the offender, the dog is named and sent outside…to do more business.

Sh—, er, stuff happens.