Butt or Face? - Kari Lavelle - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Kari Lavelle
GENRE: Children's Nonfiction, Animals.
RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A fun + informative nonfiction picture book for little animal lovers. Enjoyed it!


Using the guessing game format, this book presents some odd close-up photos of animals and asks a simple question: Is that a *butt* or a *face*? Kids love potty humour, and using it as an educational device is a great way of *butt*ressing their knowledge while providing plenty of LOL moments.

The concept sounded entertaining and easy to *crack*. However, I almost ended up with egg on my *face* after my poor guesses.

Let’s *face* the simple fact. It is *butt* obvious that we are looking at some really weird *visages* or some really adorable *tushies*. However, getting to the *bottom* of the matter isn’t as straightforward. I had *ass*umed that my animal knowledge was quite strong, and yet I fell flat on my *bottom* by making some embarrassing goofs while guessing.

The photographs are stunning. A couple of the pics even made me laugh my *ass* off with their appearance. But a few were quite tricky and made me feel the pressure of saving my *face* and not becoming the *butt* of anyone’s jokes.

In *hind*sight, I didn’t expect to find new animals in this book. The content appears *face*tious, but the author’s choice of animals ensured that the book delivered on education too. Learning about unusual creatures from nature is always fun, even if they made me bust my *butt* guessing their names.

Furthermore, there was an interesting table at the *backside* of the book, providing information about the 14 creatures in the photos, specifically about what they eat and where they dwell. (You’ll love the column headings of the table!)

Don’t miss out on the author’s note at the *end*!

Recommended from the *bottom* of my heart to classrooms where little animal lovers can kick *butt* with their guesses! This book will work perfectly for ages 6-10. (Younger ones can have a fun time guessing the animals, but the vocabulary level in the explanations might be a bit difficult for them.)

My thanks to Sourcebooks Kids and NetGalley for the DRC of “Butt or Face?”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Note: If any word in my review offends you, please do not *butt* heads with me. The book is written in a much more mature manner than this review. 😁

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