Wash, Scrub, Brush

From The Critics

The benefits of washing, scrubbing, and other cleaning habits are described, along with plenty of supportive facts. Each page demonstrates one aspect of personal hygiene and explains the similar ways different animals clean their fur, feathers, teeth, etc. Watercolor illustrations show everything from a cavity to lice to pinworms and may provide more information than some children need. 2001, Albert Whitman & Company, $15.95. Ages 5 to 10. Reviewer: C. Leonard-Schmidling SOURCE: Parent Council, September 2001 (Vol. 9, No. 1)

Children's Literature

Someone's having a party and all the children need to wash, scrub and brush. Starting with trimming the fingernails, the children proceed to cleaning their ears, brushing their teeth, washing their hands, taking a bath and combing their hair. Accompanied by lively color illustrations, each page explains the hows and whys of good grooming. Each page also contains an interesting fact about the way various animals groom. For example, the grouper fish cleans his teeth by letting smaller fish eat the plaque off of them. The grouper gets clean teeth and the smaller fish get a meal. Dandruff and lice are discussed in the hair washing section with detailed drawings of a louse and nits. A glossary of terms is included, making this a useful resource for home and classroom discussions about personal hygiene. 2001, Whitman & Company, $15.95. Ages 4 to 8. Reviewer: Cheryl Peterson

School Library Journal

PreS-K-The authors skillfully cover basic grooming and hygiene within a story framework. When several children receive party invitations, readers follow them as they get ready for the event, beginning with a nail cleaning and finishing up with a hair wash (and in one case, a mother removing lice). The youngsters arrive at the party spruced up but by the end of it they all look like they will need another round of "wash, scrub, brush." While explaining how children get clean, the author also describes in asides how animals groom themselves, sometimes with the assistance of other creatures. The book concludes with a head-to-toe review of keeping clean and a glossary of key terms with page references. The informative, colorful full-page and spot-art pencil-and-watercolor illustrations convey the light tone of the text and show both fathers and mothers tidying up their children.-Marilyn Ackerman, Brooklyn Public Library, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

There's going to be a party in this hygiene-centric picture book that teaches little ones how to keep clean. There is not a part of the body that is spared as Manning and Granström (Supermom, p. 262, etc.) take readers down the path to clean-dom. They start by informing them that there are more harmful germs underneath fingernails than on a toilet seat! A Komodo dragon pictured on the same page has claws, they learn, that are so dirty that just one scratch can cause an infection. People brush their teeth to keep down odors from plaque and decay, while small fish get a meal while cleaning the teeth of the larger grouper fish. Free of wordiness and pedantry this has a good dose of gross-out factor and fascinatingly relevant animal facts. Everyone arrives at the party well-scrubbed and proceeds to have loads of fun getting dirty again while eating, playing, and face-painting. The glossary of useful words adds still more information to this already packed and lively lesson. The drawings of an ethnically diverse cast of characters are pudgy and cute, while the animals are realistic with bright watercolors adding splashes of light. This takes all the drudgery out of coming clean! (Picture book. 3-7)