Whose Baby Butt?

By Stan Tekiela
Published in March, 2018

Why we chose this book:
T loves learning about animals, and how fun does the pretense of this book sound? The publisher provided a copy for review upon request.

Mom's Review

An engaging introduction to several wild animals.

Whose Baby Butt? provides a wealth of information for young children. Piquing interest with a photo of each baby's butt and a hint, Tekiela invites the audience to guess each animal. Some are easy, like a horse, others are not, such as the sandhill crane. Upon turning the page, each animal is shown in full with an accompanying description. The facts are interesting to a young audience (T is fascinated by the tail-biting habits of prairie dogs), and back matter provides further information for the more curious. Overall, this was a fun game to play and we both learned a bit more about the animal world.

Two aspects stood out to me. First, the photography. I like my non-fiction animal books to have color photographs. That way we can see what the animals truly look like, preferably in their natural habitats. This book provides that splendidly; you can see adults and babies. The photographs are bright and the animals (in their habitats!) stand out easily for young children. Second, the length. Ten animals are featured, which means that Whose Baby Butt? is roughly forty pages long. This took us a comfortable time to read and discuss; it was not too short. I mention this because we have another guess-the-animal-butt book, and it is simply guessing a few animals' butts, done in under five minutes. Whose Baby Butt?, by contrast, is not merely a laugh-inducing book, but rather a key opening the animal kingdom's door a bit wider.

Son's Review
(age 3)

Son, pointing to the mountain goat: Ginny Goblin wants to catapult mountain goats. I want to also.

Mom: I like how you point that out and relate this book to Ginny Goblin! Did you have a favorite animal?...What about a second one?

Son, pointing: This one [Eastern Cottontail] and this one [Common Loon].

Mom: Were there any animals you didn't like?

Son: The one that bit it.
(As I mentioned, prairie dogs bite each other's tails.)

Mom: How would you describe this book?...What was scary about it?

Son: Scary. The bears!

Mom: And did you like the book? What was your favorite part?

Son: I did! Where they kissed each other!

Mom: Who kissed each other?
(I did not notice any kissing whatsoever.)

Son: The horses.
(Oh. I didn't know horses kiss. Learn something new every day.)

Mom: What was your favorite thing you learned?

Son: That those ones [prairie dogs] bite each other!

Mom: What else did you like learning?

Son: I liked the prairie dogs!

Mom: Is there anything else I should include when I write our review?

Son: I loved it and it's good and it's special.