Ferdinand Uses the Potty: An Empowering Toilet Training Tale by Jay Tucker

• 11/26/2013
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Ferdinand Uses the Potty: An Empowering Toilet Training Tale
Jay Tucker
Loving Healing Press (2009)
ISBN 9781932690828
Reviewed by Cayden (age 5) and Max (age 3) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (10/09)

“Ferdinand Uses the Potty” by Jay Tucker is a book about a frog who is potty training.  The opening page reads: “T’was the middle of the night some time ago, and our friend Ferdinand was in slumber.  While dreaming of race cars and candied bugs, he felt a leak that required a plumber!”  Ferdinand is confused as he can’t figure out what the problem is and thinks that he might have a leaky ceiling.  When he wakes up in the morning he told his friend what had happened and his friend told him that it was because he had wet the bed.  His friend reassures Ferdinand that it had happened to him to when he was little too.  The friend tells Ferdinand to use the potty and then his bed won’t be wet anymore, but Ferdinand is afraid of the sound that the toilet makes when it flushes.  Ferdinand tries to get around using the potty, but finds out that the only way that it is going to work is if he actually does it.

Here are comments from my two boys:

Cayden:  “I thought it was funny that the frog didn’t know that he wet the bed in the beginning and he thought it was the roof leaking and he needed an umbrella!  I liked the rhymes in the book and the end when the frog goes potty.”

Max:  “This was a funny book!  I liked when the frog wasn’t scared of the potty anymore, but it said he won’t wet the bed anymore because he uses the potty now.  But I use the potty now too and sometime I wet the bed still, how come?”

As you can see, my children really enjoyed the story although Max, who has been using the potty for about six months, still has a bed-wetting accident here and there and couldn’t figure out why the frog wouldn’t have accidents sometimes too.

Overall though, I thought that “Ferdinand Uses the Potty” by Jay Tucker was a very creative book and really enjoyed the rhyming text throughout the book.  The writing was humorous and delivered a positive message.  I really think that this would be a fun book to use when potty-training your child.