Total Immersion? How Do You Take a Bath? by Kate McMullan

Animals bathe in many ways that people don't want to imitate--like squirting water through our nose or rolling in the mud without our clothes!

ELEPHANT LIFTS HIS TRUNK AND GIVES HIMSELF A SHOWER.

Okay, that sounds like fun, but for kids, it just can't be done. But then there's Pig's idea of skin care.

Wallowing in mud hour after hour?

Licking ourselves clean like a cat?

Nobody wants to do THAT!

Chickens take a bath in dust! That certainly doesn't appeal to US!

Turtle lets minnows nibble algae from his back. The very thought of that makes a kid say AACKK!

Animals have many clever ways to stay clean, but when it comes to kids, there's a better scene.

DO YOU RUN WATER IN A TUB?

DO YOU CLIMB IN AND SCRUB-A-DUB?

DO YOU DRY OFF, RUB-A-DUB?

Given the options offered in nature, most preschoolers will definitely Say YES to the Bath, in Kate McMullen's jolly prelude to the suds, How Do You Take a Bath? (Alfred A Knopf, 2018).

With funny examples of animal hygiene, McMullan's easy-going but clever little rhymes slip in an easy segue to the bedtime bath that parents will appreciate. Illustrator Sydney Hansen's soft colors and appealing animals--mother bats, hens and chicks, mama monkeys and furry babies, dogs and ducks, and happy hippos at the bird spa--give this one quite a bit of appeal to preschoolers who may not always be ready to hit the suds. And don't forget the rubber ducky!

Kate McMullan is also the celebrated co-author (with Jim McMullan) of such preschool best-sellers as I'm Dirty! (Kate and Jim Mcmullan) and I'm Brave! (Kate and Jim Mcmullan) and their many other standouts for preschoolers (see reviews here).