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).

"Pigpen" Revisited: Dirtball Pete by Eileen Brennan

DIRTBALL PETE LOOKED LIKE SOMETHING THE CAT DRAGGED IN.

IT WAS A FACT.

Pete is one of those kids, like Charles Schulz's iconic "Pigpen," who seems to attract dirt and all things stinky like a magnet attracts iron filings. Mom is patient, but she draws the line when Pete tells her he's playing the part of the state of Pennsylvania onstage in the school play.

PETE'S MOM HAS REASON TO WORRY ABOUT THIS, BUT SHE ALSO HAD A PLAN.

SHE BEGAN WHISTLING A LITTLE SONG TO THE RHYTHM SHE MADE WITH THE SCRUB BRUSH.

EVEN HIS DOG JACK WAS IMPRESSED.

Pete emerges spotless and sweet-smelling for the moment, and Mom sees that he's perfectly groomed in creased slacks, a spotless shirt, and striped tie. Dressed to the nines, with his costume on and his memorized speech clutched in his hand for emergencies, the family sets forth for the big night. But what's that smell?

"OH,, NO!" HIS MOTHER SAID. "PET FERRETS MUST STAY HOME!"

YOU'RE THE HANDSOMEST PENNSYLVANIA EVER!"

But once in the school parking lot, Pete's speech is swept away by the wind, and heedless of his garb and his coiffure, Pete chases after it--through the sprinkler, under the bushes, and---well, you can imagine how he looks when he finally retrieves the speech. Will Pennsylvania be a Dirtball Disaster?

Eileen Brennan's Dirtball Pete (Random House, 2011) is a cliff-hanging showbiz thriller as the heroically disheveled Dirtball Pete comes onstage to deliver an inspired poem to the perfections of Pennsylvania. Clever digital cartoons point up the poignant humor of this tale, which celebrates the heedless exuberance of small boys in rib-tickling style. As Publishers Weekly sums it up, "It’s tough to make a book sardonic and heartwarming at the same time, but Brennan nails it."