Poop or Get Off the Potty!

Toddler-PreS–McNamara offers a chipper tale of biracial siblings mastering advanced-level toilet training: pooping in a potty. Mia and Mason make jokes about their potties, sing about them, and generally display the utmost comfort with and enthusiasm for their new toilet regime. The upbeat chronology of the steps involved is not notably inventive or artful, but the children’s unbridled excitement proves to be this book’s most valuable asset. Brightly colored digital illustrations pair strong geometric lines with simple, expressive faces (though it’s not clear why two kids in the same room always appear against different backgrounds). Every aspect of this book contributes to an insistently positive spin on an activity that some kids and caregivers find stressful or challenging. The exuberance unfortunately extends to the jokey title; while cute, it may be counterproductive, as sometimes you just need to wait for a physiological function to unfold in its own time. Side note: The illustrations depict hand washing, but the text omits this crucial step.