Butts Are Everywhere

July 15, 2020
An informational hymn to your handsome heinie. Yes, butts are everywhere, and everyone has one: your fellow family members, your friends, even famous people. Butts have many names: "haunches," "cheeks," "keister," "caboose," "booty," "patootie," and many more, each one rendered in its own style on a double-page spread devoted to this particular set of synonyms. However, your "can" is more than just something to laugh at (or to not mention in polite society). "Your gluteus maximus will propel you into the air if you jump, and your buns will catch you if you fall." Many animals have butts. Some that don't include whales, worms, and jellyfish. And animals use their butts for varied activities: Dogs learn about other dogs with a sniff; turtles breathe with their rears, and manatees "toot" to swim faster. And speaking of the fantastic fart, everyone does it, from bees to elephants (humans are no exception!). Yes, there are billions of buttocks in the world, but everyone's is unique and perfect as it is. Stutzman's occasionally rhyming text gets the poots--er, points across handily. Little listeners may giggle (a lot), but, in the tradition of Taro Gomi's venerable Everyone Poops (1993), this cleverly informs on a topic all and sundry may not be completely comfortable talking about and entertains in the process. Fox's colorful cartoon illustrations of joyous butt-owners of many skin tones displaying their derrieres double the fun. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads at 61.4% of actual size.) Young readers will be happy to read and reread this dynamic data on their duffs. (Picture book. 2-8)

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August 28, 2020

PreS-Gr 2-Kids love a little butt talk, and they get it in this title that takes on the universality of the bottom across nature. Stutzman describes butts, lists their colloquial monikers as well as scientific names, and goes on to assure us that all creatures have them. This is not entirely accurate, and educators may have a moment of cognitive dissonance trying to reconcile the idea of a "hindquarters" on a jellyfish or crab; they may be put off by a parallel between a butt and a "tooter" (the technical term for the end of a digestive tract). The target audience will likely not see this as a problem. Fox's childlike drawings are a good complement to Stutzman's narrative. VERDICT Best shared in an environment where loud laughter and distracted side-talking is permitted. An additional purchase for most libraries.-Lisa Lehmuller, Paul Cuffee Maritime Charter Sch., Providence

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 7, 2020
Utilizing a true wealth of hilarious synonyms, married cocreators Stutzman and Fox (Llama Destroys the World) request a little respect, please, for the buttocks, which is not just “something to crack jokes about.” On the contrary, Stutzman notes that butts are a sign of humankind’s commonality (“There are BILLIONS of bum-bums on our grand planet”) and connect humans with other animals (although not “Dolphins. Worms. Jellies. Whales”). They also serve as muscular, comfy cushions; gas passers (“It is perfectly natural and healthy for your hams to oink”); and signifiers of each individual’s uniqueness (“your wonderful can, is perfect and unique just as it is”). Fox’s digital cartoons, rendered in cheery colors and precise lines, are a spot-on match for the text’s cheeky message; she takes readers around the world, indoors and out (settings include the classroom, the museum, the backyard, and even the moon), to preach the universality of this anatomical component and the joyful message of its unconditional support: “No matter how you swing it, your caboose has your back.” Ages 4–8. Agent (for Stutzman and Fox): Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties.