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February 24, 2011

Animal Picture Books: CHICKEN CHEEKS and DINOSAURS LOVE UNDERPANTS


Reviewed by Laura Madsen, mom, veterinarian and writer

Young kids are inordinately fascinated by bodily functions, as well as any associated anatomy, clothing or equipment. Here are two picture books that kids will find wickedly entertaining:

Chicken CheeksCHICKEN CHEEKS, written by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, features rear ends across the animal kingdom. On the cover, a hen bends over, peeking between her legs and showing off her cheeks—her feathery, orange, plump, rear end. In the story, a variety of animals climb on each other to make a tower, trying to reach a honey comb at the top of a tree. Each animal’s name is accompanied by a euphemism for its bottom (“Moose caboose,” “Polar bear derriere, “Guinea pig buns,” and so on), and the illustrated rumps make kids giggle.



Dinosaurs Love Underpants
In DINOSAURS LOVE UNDERPANTS, written by Claire Freedman and illustrated by Ben Cort, we learn the real reason for the dinosaurs’ extinction—they coveted the cavemen’s underpants. Vast battles ensue as dinosaurs fight over multicolored briefs and panties. The rhyming text is fun for reading aloud: “The pants from Wooly Mammoth coats made Stegosaurus itchy. Diplodocus was really mad. His briefs were way too pinchy!” I read this to my daughter’s kindergarten class and they laughed hysterically.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

These sound like books my kids are going to flip for! If my girls are not wearing panties on their heads with their pigtails poking through the leg holes, they're reciting their favorite part of "Despicable Me," where Vector shoots his shrink-ray at a toilet, mocks the wee thing (no pun intended...okay, pun intended), gets shot with toilet water in the face, and yells "CURSE YOU, TINY TOILET!" I don't know why kids love anything to do with the hind quarters, but they do.

Amy Finnegan {BookshopTalk.com} said...

Just the kind of books my daughters would laugh their butts off reading (excuse the pun!)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, what is it about kids and their fascination with underpants and what's underneath?
:)

Polly @ Pieces by Polly said...

Infarrantly Creative sent me, and I’m following you on Google follower. I'd love to win Dinosaurs Love Underpants...my son would think it was hilarious.

teampr8 said...

Infarrantly Creative sent me, and I'm following you on google follower. I'd love to win Donosaurs Love Underpants...my four kiddos, especially my son who adores dinos will think this is the best book ever!!