Hope Vestergaard

American author Hope Vestergaard and Italian illustrator Valeria Petrone team up in this entertaining picture-book examination of bathroom etiquette. The rhyming text profiles a number of animal pupils at Sycamore Preschool, describing the various bad habits they have, from not flushing the toilet to not wiping themselves properly. Each two-page spread features a funny rhyme describing the situation, and an admonition to the pupil in question, suggesting what they can do to improve the situation...

Potty Animals: What to Know When You've Gotta Go! isn't really a book to teach young children how to go the the bathroom. That task falls to titles such as Once Upon a Potty and the like. Rather, it attempts to teach some of the habits, whether of hygiene or good manners, that should accompany going to the bathroom. Things like flushing the toilet or shutting the door while one uses the toilet, or washing one's hands and not waiting to go until the last moment. There's so much more to 'going' than just learning how to go, and Vestergaard presents some of that information in a fun and friendly way here. Her text would make an excellent read-aloud, with its entertaining, rhyming structure, while Petrone's accompanying artwork captures and accentuates the humor of each situation. Recommended to anyone looking for children's books addressing the subject of good manners and hygiene, when using the toilet.… (meer)