THE TEDDY POTTY BOOK

This tall, sturdy volume of potty basics is another entry in the British Bright Start, Right Start series (First Numbers, 2014, etc.).

The text here reads like a beginner’s nonfiction title, introducing items such as diapers, underwear, toilets and training pants without much of a storyline to anchor the concepts. To begin, readers are introduced to Baby Bear: “This is Baby Bear wearing a diaper. / Baby Bear pees and poops in the diaper.” A note in small print suggests that parents replace the words “pee” and “poop” with whatever terms their family prefers. Readers then see Baby Bear wear training pants and underwear, use the potty successfully and unsuccessfully, and wash up afterward. Mommy Bear is there to help wipe Baby Bear’s bottom and flush the toilet. Unfortunately, the text doesn’t always flow smoothly at the sentence level, perhaps a result of the assiduous avoidance of gendered pronouns, and the connections between events are sometimes unclear. Further contributing to this disjointed effect are the mixed-media illustrations, which feature photographs of dressed-up teddy bears set against cartoon backgrounds, making for a busy, sometimes-dizzying blend of reality and fiction.

With all the potty titles out there—many with clearer presentations of the concepts or stronger storylines and characters—this is one to skip.