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Where’s My Tushy?

by Deborah Aronson & Ivica Stevanovic, illustrator

Carolrhoda Books              1/05/2014

978-1-4677-1197-5

Age 4 to 8           32 pages

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“In one little town (it is sad but it’s true), the tushies left town without leaving a clue. What happens when all the tushies in an unusual town decide to take a vacation?”

Opening

“We all have a tush and we’re glad that we’ve got ‘em. Our lives would be rough with no tush or no bottom. If our tushies decided to get up and leave, we’d find it alarming and hard to believe”

Review

In an odd little English town, on a nice night, all the tushies decided they deserved a holiday from their tough, stressful lives. The townsfolk awoke shocked to have lost their tushie. They tried to go about their normal day, yet nothing held up their pants. Oh, they all tried. Some stuffed their vacant bottom with socks or pillows, while others used rope or suspenders. It was a sorry sight.

Now, stop laughing! These people couldn’t sit down without their tushie. Standing made their feet tired—would they too walk away? Some cried out for their tushie to return, but the earless, triangular tushies went south, to lounge around on the beach and soak up the sun. Detectives tried detecting. People hung posters. Police took reports. A dog and cat—with tushies—stared at a poster, alarmed at the sight of the smiling tush.

Without the pressure and stress normally felt, the tushies enjoyed each carefree day . . . until, like most on holiday, they begin missing home and their jobs—okay, not quite like most. One day, a young redheaded girl tripped on a lump of grass and fortuitously fell down on her rump. She was thrilled for her tush was once again behind her. One by one, the tushies returned to their bottoms, promising never to abandon their person again.

Loaded with laughs and guffaws, Where’s My Tushie will delight kids. Tushes young and old leave town wearing nothing but undies. They have faces complete with eyes, nose, mouth, and a crack that gives them two horizontal chins. They sprout feet and hands. One must suspend their beliefs to enjoy the story. Easily done. The story, told in rhyme, are made of fantastic couplets—some quatrains—that are fun to read aloud because Ms. Aronson never misses a beat.

The illustrations are nicely done. I love the alarmed looks when all realize they have no tush. For one little boy, a dotted line outlines where his bottom should have been. I love all the detail and the little surprises in some of the spreads. Most have a tush or two looking on, smiling at the make shift behinds, as if enjoying the chaos they have caused. Two detectives, one with a magnifying glass, totally miss the double decker bus with a roof full of tushies. Sightseers, I’m sure.

Depending on a child’s age and gullibility, this inventive story will have kids checking for tushies, at least for a while. I am wondering where the tushies’ arms and legs went now that they have returned to being behinds. Do they fall off and regenerate when needed? I’m just as quizzical about the eyes, mouth, and nose. If the nose remains on the tush, eventually the promise never to leave will be broken. No doubt, kids will have thoughts such as those, and anyone who gets a solid answer, please let me know.

Teachers—inventive teachers—might find a use for Where’s My Tushie in the classroom. Young American kids will have questions about more than tushies. The illustrations are definitely English with a red double-decker and Sherlock Holmes like detectives, among other things. Don’t miss the hungry shark ready to eat a swimming tush. He possesses the crazed look seen in villainous cartoons.

WHERE’S MY TUSHIE. Text copyright © 2014 by Deborah Aronson. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Ivica Stevanovic. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis, MN.

Buy Where’s My Tushie at Amazon—B&N—Lerner Books—your local bookstore.

Learn more about Where’s My Tushie HERE.

Meet the author, Deborah Aronson, at her bio:  http://www.hermanagencyinc.com/deborah_aronson.htm

Meet the illustrator, Ivica Stevanovic, at her website:  http://ivicastevanovicart.blogspot.com/

Meet Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, at the company blog:

Also by Ivica Stevanovic

Jack the Castaway (The Berenson Schemes)

Jack and the Wild Life (Berenson Schemes)

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Will be reviewing these soon!