I Need to Wee!

April 15, 2019
Poor Alan really needs to go! In a text rife with potty-humor punning, Alan (a blue teddy bear), is in line to go "whizzing down the very tall slide with his friends" at a fair when he starts dancing furiously. Giraffe and others ask why he's doing this, and he explains "I need to wee!" But he doesn't want to interrupt his fun to take care of business. Unfortunately, delays, long lines, and other impediments on the way to the potty make the situation "desperate." Alan searches for quasi-potties but is stymied at every turn: He can't use a doll's toilet because it's the "teeny tiny" one in her dollhouse; Robot objects to his attempted use of a teapot: "It's...not a wee-pot!"; Magic Rabbit exclaims, "Don't even think about it!" when Alan nearly pees in its hat. When Alan inadvertently ends up dancing away on stage, he wins first prize in a contest and is awarded a large, gold trophy, which he promptly uses to relieve himself. What happens to the resulting urine is left to readers to ponder, though perhaps many would rather leave the book aside without solving that mystery, since the story's seemingly interminable chain of events grows tiresome well before its resolution. The busy digital illustrations with a palette verging on the garish don't offer much relief. A miss. (Picture book. 2-4)

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July 26, 2019

PreS-K-Alan, a blue knitted bear, needs to use the bathroom but he would rather keep having fun with Giraffe and Robot. His friends whisk him along through a series of distractions-"when you've got to go, you've got to go" intones the pink Giraffe-but the line for the toilet is dauntingly long. By now, Alan has acknowledged peeing as his top priority and this British import morphs from a lesson about listening to our bodies into a playtime farce. The goggle-eyed toys rush about, looking for an alternate toilet. Dolly's potty is too small, a top hat houses a disgruntled Rabbit, and a teapot is just not appropriate. In the end, Alan's need-to-wee jig wins him a dance competition with a prize trophy; he promptly relieves himself in it. Adults probably don't want to introduce the idea of peeing in household objects and children may find the manic hunt more perplexing than fun. (Dolly appears the same size as Alan, so why doesn't he fit on her toilet? How come a secret dance contest lurks on the other side of a curtain?) The book ends with a confusing pun that probably won't land with kids in the U.S. who don't use the words "wee" or "wheee!" on a regular basis. VERDICT Keep looking.-Robbin E. Friedman, Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 12, 2019
Alan the toy bear loves to “WHEEEEE!” down the slide; when he needs to do a different kind of “wee,” however, he and some friends embark on a carnivalesque adventure in search of a suitable receptacle. Their journey is initially slowed by distracting temptations (balloons! cake!) and then comically complicated by a bathroom queue that’s nine toys long. The group begins considering absurd alternatives—from a teeny-tiny dollhouse toilet to a magician’s hat (“Don’t even think about it!” says Magic Rabbit). As the situation becomes desperate, Alan’s pee dance accidentally wins him first place in an international toy dancing competition—and the trophy cup comes just in time. With cheery digital illustrations, married cocreators Hendra and Linnet play Alan’s plight for laughs, suggesting that even a need to wee can turn into a moment of “whee.” Ages 4–8.