THE PRINCESS AND THE POTTY
by Wendy Cheyette Lewison & illustrated by Rick Brown
S&S offers two useful new takes on the potty picture this March: Young's judicious realism (below) and this more imaginative—and candid—tale of a princess who rejects a parade of fancy potties (``a musical potty...a potty that glowed in the dark'') proffered by her anxious parents and subjects, with the royal aplomb of a grown-up princess rejecting suitors. To the hilarity of the court, the king and queen demonstrate (no bottoms bared), while the royal wise man opines that ``the princess will use the potty when it pleases her.'' But the queen's gambit is the one that proves efficacious: provided with gorgeous new pantalettes like her mother's, the princess doesn't want to go back to her diaper; and suddenly, whichever potty is nearest ``pleases'' her. Brown's broadly humorous illustrations, deftly limned in heavy broken lines with bright color added, are right in the spirit of a lighthearted story with sensible messages for tots and parents alike. (Picture book. 3-6)