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I'M NOT POOPING

Name: I'M NOT POOPING
Author: Tanya Harvey
ISBN: 9781069140302

by Tanya Harvey ; illustrated by Sara LeBlanc ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 6, 2024

A serviceable tale of good bathroom habits.

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Harvey's rhyming picture book looks at what happens when a kid simply refuses to poop.

Siblings Kate and Reese are having fun, but when a certain smell wafts from Kate’s direction, Reese asks if she needs a bathroom break. “I’m not pooping!” Kate shouts, insisting she just wants to play. Mom suggests that a bathroom visit would be a good choice, but Kate says no. (All characters are portrayed with pale skin.) Even when Mom says the toilet is where poop can play, Kate refuses—until everyone hears a cry from inside Kate’s body: “I’m stuck in this bum! I’m trapped in here and having no fun.” After she uses the toilet, the poop thanks Kate for its freedom and waves as it’s flushed away. Kate washes her hands, vowing to listen to her body next time (with one last fart joke). Leblanc's cartoon-style art is notably sparse, featuring simple line drawings, no backgrounds, and splashes of color for hair and clothes (and poop). For kids refusing to stop and take necessary breaks, this may be the story they need. However, portraying waste as sentient and imprisoned inside one’s body may unsettle some. Ultimately, like a lot of toilet-centered books, readers will be split between finding the material funny or a bit gross.

A serviceable tale of good bathroom habits.

Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781069140302

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Newtown Station Press

Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2025

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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A BIKE LIKE SERGIO'S

by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...

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Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.

This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)