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Toots, trumps, farts. Whatever your word for them, find us a child that doesn't find them irresistibly funny. Funny to talk about and joke about, that is. But horribly embarrassing if you let one go at the wrong time. In class, say, when everyone will hear it and everyone will laugh. At you. Justine Avery's latest entry in her ''Everybody Potties!'' series takes aim at any shame associated with tooting and gently and calmly, with the familiar humour attached, explains that tooting is perfectly normal. Everybody does it: ''Everybody Toots''!

Your entire family toots, even the oldies like grandads and grannies. In fact, the oldies toot A LOT. Important people like school principals and even the prime minister toot. Animals toot. You can even toot underwater - and frighten the fish!  The text is big and bold and has a great rhythm for reading aloud. There are lots of laughs along the way. 

Naday Meldova's illustrations suit the big and bold text perfectly. I love her big-eyed, friendly people and her lively animals. This book has a beautiful double page spread of the Earth with all the characters standing on it, outsized, tooting away with pride. If readers can tear themselves away from the tooting theme for a few minutes - unlikely, I know! - it's the perfect illustration for enumerating different kinds of people, species of animal, and world famous landmarks.

If I had a criticism, it would be that ''Everybody Toots!'' is a little bit thin. Yes, it's great for repetition leading to everyone falling about laughing, but I think there was room for a little bit of variation - some toots smell and some don't, some toots are loud and some are silent, that sort of thing. When I was a little one, a standing joke in our house was to call my mother's toots - quiet but stinky! - the ''creeping death''. My brother and I found it hilarious and my mother would join in by performing exaggerated hurt feelings before bursting out laughing herself. I would have liked something like that.

Minor nitpick aside, ''Everybody Toots!'' is another great little book from Avery, adding another to the ''Everybody Potties!'' series, which is doing sterling work destigmatising normal bodily functions in the minds of children. Everybody does, indeed, toot, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Recommended.

If you want more books about farting (!) you could also try [[Trumpety Trump by Steve Smallman and Adria Meserve]] or [[Fluff the Farting Fish by Michael Rosen and Tony Ross]].

You can read more about Justine Avery [[:Category:Justine Avery|here]].