'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Monday 14 June 2010

Review: Bottoms Up

Title: Bottoms Up

Author: Jeanne Willis

Illustrator: Adam Stower

Publisher: Puffin Books, $14.95 RRP

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780141502137

For ages: 3+

Type: Picture book

About: Sometimes a funny, ridiculous story is what we need – nothing too heavy or serious, just something to share a laugh with our little ones and be a bit silly for a few minutes.

What better way to do that than reading a story about bottoms?

Written from the perspective of babies protesting to their parents about wearing nappies, Bottoms Up gives us a number of reasons why bottoms shouldn’t be covered. ‘Bottoms are beautiful, bottoms aren’t rude’, the babies insist, going on to point out that animals don’t have to wear nappies or knickers.

‘Do piglets wear panties?’ they ask. ‘Do bats wear bikinis?’ they cry. And the examples become funnier and funnier, until they call for all the babies and toddlers to throw their nappies away – bottoms up!

We just have to hope that, amongst all this hilarity, our children don’t take these protests literally.

The illustrations, too, are hilarious, with all sorts of animals looking ridiculous as they boldly dance around in human underwear. And who could resist the gorgeous babies strutting their stuff with those pinchable bare bottoms!

This book is available online