It's Okay to Smell Good!

December 1, 2020
In a world of stink, smelling good might be a problem. Panda Cat, a skunk, lives in Smellsville, where the stinkiest of the stinky is celebrated as the best. Every morning he combs rotten eggs through his hair, dabs moldy mayonnaise under his arms, and brushes his teeth with garlic-and-onion toothpaste before a breakfast of toe jam, rotten apples, and spoiled milk. One day at Smellsville Smellementary School, his friends (a dung beetle, a stinkbird, and a binturong) tell him that his idol, Smellbert Einstink, discoverer of the theory of stinkativity, will be the guest judge at the science fair. Panda Cat wants to impress his hero with the stinkiest experiment...but in trial runs something goes horribly wrong, and the resultant bright pink goo smells deliciously sweet. Panda Cat finds he likes it, but the smell sends his friends running; he can't admit his preference. Hoping the experiment will work at the fair, he tries again only to produce more pink fluff. He loses but learns, in an earnest articulation of the book's message, that Einstink didn't intend stink to completely displace sweet scents. This effort thematically revisits Tharp's earlier It's Okay To Be a Unicorn! (2020), although the like-what-you-like message is somewhat muddled by the silly, excessive references to stench. Worse, the book misses the opportunity to examine subjectivity, instead reinforcing the notion that there are good smells and bad smells instead of just smells. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 29.7% of actual size.) This book on scent doesn't make sense. (Picture book. 3-6)

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