We Toot! – Book Review

Book Review
We Toot!
Written by Ashley Wheelock and Arwen Evans
Illustrated by Sandie Sonke
Published August 26, 2019

Mom's Review
Toot. Fart. Pass gas. Cut the cheese. Let one rip. He who smelt it dealt it.

Regardless of how you talk about it, it's embarrassing. But need we be embarrassed by a natural bodily function? That is the premise of We Toot!  The morning after a fun-filled sleepover, a loud sound is followed by a disgusting odor, and a little pigtailed girl emerges from the bathroom. With a quick succession of not-me's, the culprit admits unashamedly to flatulence. She is not embarrassed, even when another girl tells her, "But girls do not fart, it's foul and not proper." The pigtailed girl (no names are used) laughs at that nonsense, saying that it's perfectly natural. The critical moment is when the hostess decides to back her up, admitting, "I let farts rip, too!" Each girl in turn confesses that she does as well. In the end, they all realize that what was embarrassing was actually just a part of being human. Will readers still be embarrassed by farting? Probably. Will little girls feel as though they are doing something unnatural and shameful? Doubtful.

What can I say about We Toot!? Fun. Fun. Positive messaging. More fun.

T and I had a lot of, well, fun reading this. The rhyme and rhythm are spot on. The first line, "What smells like a skunk and sounds like a frog? What trumpets and hoots, and barks like a dog?" almost begs to be performed. And things only get better from there. The illustrations are cute, there is a little dog on each page, and the girls' expressions perfectly capture the sequence of, "Is that a fart I smell?" reactions.  Back to the dog for a sec – finding and following recurrent animal characters is a particular enjoyment for T at present, so if an illustrator has included one, it's a bonus for us. Thank you, Ms. Sonke! On top of the fun and humor, there's a message that we should not be ashamed of our bodies. The message is obvious, but the delivery is anything but heavy handed. The characters are just too fun for that!

We Toot! achieves its aim of promoting body positivity, hands down. Overwhelmingly funny, with cute illustrations and bouncy poetry, it delivers its message to readers who will likely enjoy it time and time again.

Son's Review
(Age: 4 and 1/2)
Mom: How would you describe the book? ... What's it about?

Son: It's funny, like with the farts. ... Farting, and saying "farting isn't proper." It's telling us, people do fart. It is proper. It's not unproper. It's proper. That's what our book tells us. But there's one big rule that everyone has to follow.

Mom: What is it?

Son: That there is no farting allowed while reading the book.
(I had jokingly told him this the first time we read it, but it's not a bad rule to have. lol)

Mom: What was your favorite part?

Son: My favorite part was like when she has a party because I like to go to parties.

Mom: What would you say to your friends if they fart?

Son: Excuse you?

Mom: Who might this be a good book for?

Son: Cousin G. because G. likes funny stuff and it's funny.

Why we chose this book:
Potty humor is a favorite form of humor for our four year old. We Toot! therefore caught my eye when it came across my Instagram feed, and I commented about its appeal. This lead to a review opportunity, in which a review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.