No One Likes a Fart

August 12, 2019
Making friends isn’t always easy. From the moment poor Fart slips “silently, invisibly” into the world, he’s excited to make friends. There’s just one problem: he quite literally stinks. As the green cloud sails through the air, from a home (“Da-ad! That smells so gross!”) to a world filled with “sweet fragrances” (garbage, smog), his overtures of friendship flop (“Someone’s been cooking air biscuits”). Finally, Fart shamefacedly realizes that he is the stench everyone has been complaining about. Embarrassed and despondent, he drifts into an alley, where he encounters his favorite garbage smells and another personified bodily emission, also down in the dumps, who becomes his gaseous soulmate. Blake fully exploits her wacky premise (offering a true wealth of fart epithets) and, alongside contemporary illustrations by Nickel, shows that even a little fart can drum up big affection. Ages 3–7.

August 15, 2019
The trials and tribulations of a toot. "Fart slipped out silently, invisibly, when no one was paying attention." It was Dad who let out the little brown cloud with an expressive face. His family is offended by the odor. "If you were stuck in there you'd want out, too!" says Dad. The little fart thinks he better move on; he would like to make friends. He glides into a room where a boy and dog play. The boy smells Fart and blames the dog. No friends here. Next Fart flies by a mother and infant out for a run--but the mom thinks the baby's diaper's full. No friends here either. Fart travels past two kids on a bench (who blame an old man) and then onto a bus where three different kids all blame one another. Finally Fart realizes he is the one repelling all of these would-be friends. He sadly drifts through a cafe (offending everyone) and out into the alley--where he meets a purple burp. And the two are stinky (and happy) together. This story of the thunder down under (from Down Under) doesn't totally stink; it's an adequate tale of self-acceptance and finding your people. Blake's trouser-trumpet text's a bit wordy, and there are few giggles beyond the initial laugh at the anthropomorphized gas cloud with spindly arms and legs. Nickel's cartoon illustrations appear a bit retro and lean toward the browner hues. Only for settings in desperate need of another fart book. (Picture book. 3-8)

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