Ferdinand Uses the Potty: An Empowering Toilet Training Tale

Jay Tucker Loving Healing Press (2009) ISBN 9781932690828 Reviewed by Cayden (age 5) and Max (age 3) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (10/09)   "Ferdinand Uses the Potty" by Jay Tucker is a book about a frog who is potty training.  The opening page reads: "T'was the middle of the night some time ago, and our friend Ferdinand was in slumber.  While dreaming of race cars and candied bugs, he felt a leak that required a plumber!"  Ferdinand is confused as he can't figure out what the problem is and thinks that he might have a leaky ceiling.  When he wakes up in the morning he told his friend what had happened and his friend told him that it was because he had wet the bed.  His friend reassures Ferdinand that it had happened to him to when he was little too.  The friend tells Ferdinand to use the potty and then his bed won't be wet anymore, but Ferdinand is afraid of the sound that the toilet makes when it flushes.  Ferdinand tries to get around using the potty, but finds out that the only way that it is going to work is if he actually does it.   Here are comments from my two boys:   Cayden:  "I thought it was funny that the frog didn't know that he wet the bed in the beginning and he thought it was the roof leaking and he needed an umbrella!  I liked the rhymes in the book and the end when the frog goes potty."   Max:  "This was a funny book!  I liked when the frog wasn't scared of the potty anymore, but it said he won't wet the bed anymore because he uses the potty now.  But I use the potty now too and sometime I wet the bed still, how come?"   As you can see, my children really enjoyed the story although Max, who has been using the potty for about six months, still has a bed-wetting accident here and there and couldn't figure out why the frog wouldn't have accidents sometimes too.    Overall though, I thought that "Ferdinand Uses the Potty" by Jay Tucker was a very creative book and really enjoyed the rhyming text throughout the book.  The writing was humorous and delivered a positive message.  I really think that this would be a fun book to use when potty-training your child. Listen to interview with Jay Tucker on Inside Scoop Live

Torn

Amber Lehman Closet Case Press (2009) ISBN 9780979593369 Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (11/09)    Let's face it - growing up is a terribly confusing process. One day you are playing with dolls or cars, and then all of a sudden you start noticing boys or girls, and maybe both. Finding out who one is and what one really wants can be a long and oftentimes painful process and more often than not, the adolescent has few, if any people, who can really help with the ensuing confusion. Amber Lehman's "Torn" is a brave and candid book about a group of teenagers searching for their identities and dealing with everyday school and family issues.   When she transfers from a Catholic school in Ohio to a public school in California, fourteen-year-old Krista McKinley's life changes rapidly Very quickly she is befriended by Carrie and Brandon, who in turn introduce her to a bunch of other teens and Krista's life suddenly does not look so bleak. But teens will be teens and a simple game of truth or dare threatens to shake Krista's life and her beliefs to the core. Is she gay? Is she straight? Does she love Carrie? Or maybe Daemon? Or is it somebody else who has really captured her heart?   "Torn" frankly and openly speaks about the realities of life faced by today's teens. It touches upon the subjects of homosexuality, drugs, underage drinking, date rape, statutory rape, STDs, dysfunctional families, absent parents and more. Ms. Lehman's writing is very fluid and vivid, and her characters colorful, believable and likeable. I particularly enjoyed learning more about Brandon, and I found him the best developed and most thoroughly explained character in the story. Although some of the dilemmas the teens in the book faced did not really resonate with me personally, I definitely see the value of speaking about those matters in the straightforward way that Ms. Lehman used. There was one slightly jarring note in the book for me, namely the way the adults in the book dealt with the issues of underage sex, use of drugs, alcohol and the borderline improper sexual conduct with the minor. I would have liked it better if the book made it clearer that none of those is a good idea and that they are all both illegal and highly dangerous. While I am definitely not closing my eyes against the reality, and I do realize all of those things do and will happen, I would have really liked the book better if the consequences of such behavior would have been more emphasized and the instances of it shown in a less permissive way.   Having said that, I would like to commend Ms. Lehman on a courageous and well written book; "Torn" could certainly help any teenager who feels alone, abandoned and confused.  And I am quite certain that would be quite a large percentage.