Don’t Go There!

Toddler-PreS–When a spunky young girl finds a baby Martian, she takes him in only to realize that nobody’s taught him how to use the toilet. In fact, since this is a British picture book, nobody’s taught him how to use the “loo.” Absurdity abounds as the Martian relieves himself in strange and silly places, such as a trash can, a birdbath, and a fishbowl. This sort of thing will work grandly for kids who have an appreciation for potty humor. The girl eventually comes up with “The Toilet Song” to teach the alien how to properly use the facilities, though little guidance is given on how to actually sing the song. It starts out, “Lid up,/pants down,/ bottom on the seat./Sit still,/just chill,/until the job’s/complete.” The entire text is done in rhyme, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Bragadottir’s cartoon illustrations have a softness and sense of humor to them, and the characters and situations are largely silly, but spot-on.