My Dad’s Runaway Bum!  Dawn McMillan Ross Kinnaird  

 

My Dad’s Runaway Bum! 
Dawn McMillan, ill. Ross Kinnaird
Oratia Books (2024)
Picture book, Paperback, 32 pages
ISBN 978 1 99 004254 6

 

‘An explosion! A blast! Something’s happening and it’s happening fast!’

This picture book is a sequel to I Need a New Bum! (2012), I’ve Broken My Bum! (2019), My Bum is So Noisy! (2021), My Bum is So Cheeky! (2022), My Bum is So Chrismassy! (2022), My Bum is So Spooky (2023) and My Bum’s on the Run! (2023).

By now the pattern is well established.

Our hero, the ‘boy in red pants,’ is disturbed to find that his father’s consumption of such dangerous foodstuff as cabbage and peas has caused a disaster. ‘Dad’s bum has blown off!’ Not only that, it has also run away. In bouncy rhymes, the errant buttocks escape down the street, with father and son in pursuit.

‘Past joggers in tights. Past bikers with lights.’

Several minor catastrophes and a major police pursuit later, there is a surprise solution to the problem. A difficult day ends with a son’s final warning to his father, one which may well be echoed by some readers.

Ross Kinnaird’s lively illustrations are brilliantly colourful and surprisingly tactful. The rogue bum remains discreetly clad in yellow boxer shorts throughout its independent existence. The family dog, familiar from previous adventures, has managed to insert himself into almost every picture, including a spell as a K9 officer in the police patrol.

 

Trevor Agnew 

 25 January 2024  [Review 3612]

I Need a New Bum! Activity Book  
Betsy Ochester, Dawn McMillan, Ross Kinnaird

 

I Need a New Bum! Activity Book   

Betsy Ochester and Dawn McMillan
Illustrator: Ross Kinnaird
Oratia Books (2024)
Activity book, Paperback, 48 pages
ISBN: 978 1 99 004246  

 

‘I woke up this morning

looking for puzzles to do.

I craved mazes and codes,

and word searches, too.’

This puzzle book is a companion volume to the Dawn McMillan’s picture book series about the boy who needed a new bum. This un-named lad (with his dog) acts as a guide through a range of brain-teasers, word games, art challenges, crosswords, code-crackers and mazes, all with buttocks-related themes. And flatulence-related themes too of course. There are puns and frog jokes and even designs for door-hanger signs.

As always, the boy’s dog, known as Dog, is in attendance throughout.

 

Trevor Agnew 

21 October 2024  [Review 3722]