It All Began with a Bean

February 1, 2005
PreS-Gr 3 -This over-the-top, tall-tale style picture book is supposedly "the true story of what happened when everything and everyone farted at once." Innocuously beginning with a fly eating a bean, birds, fish, dogs, cats, and more than half a million people all coincidentally ingest gas-producing foods at the same time. When everyone lets loose at once, the resulting chaos blasts "the paint from police cars to school buses. -& The gas parted the threads in teachers' clothes. The kids got to see the principal's underpants!" Even after the explosion, the smell still lingers: "It was so strong that green slid out of the leaves of trees. Freckles slid off cheeks -&. Even skunks searching for food in trashcans had to close their noses." Eventually a mighty wind blows the gas away (although the billowing cloud does not bode well for the town downwind). Ridiculous to the extreme, this story is illustrated with comic cartoons featuring bug-eyed characters with greenish/brownish/yellowish clouds exploding out of their derriè res. Although gross-out bodily humor is quite popular these days, not everyone will be able to enjoy this book. The right audience is sure to get a laugh." -Piper L. Nyman, formerly at Fairfield Civic Center Library, CA"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.