[ARC REVIEW] Farty Princess by A.P. Gai

Title:  Farty Princess

Author:  A.P. Gai

Artist: Kittipong

Genre:  Children's / Humor / Fairy Tale / Royalty / Mission

Year Published: 2013

Year Read:  5/22/2018

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC.   

Source: eARC (Amazon Kindle)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Gross Humor)

I received this book through Amazon Kindle in exchange for an honest review.

I had read a few children’s books that dealt with toilet humor (or to get specific here, fart humor) like “Walter the Farting Dog” and I usually enjoy them since they are so hilarious to read through.  So, when I saw this new children’s book title from Amazon called “Farty Princess” by A.P. Gai along with artwork by Kittipong, I just had to check this little title out!

Princess Priscilla was well loved by the people of her kingdom as she was extremely friendly to everyone around her.  Unfortunately, Priscilla has a little problem…she cannot stop farting uncontrollably and her farts smell so bad that they make anyone who has the misfortunate of being near them faint!  One day, Priscilla was finally going to marry her fiancé Prince Paul and she was so happy about the occasion that she ended up farting in bliss and her farts smelled so bad that it put Prince Paul into a deep sleep!  Now, Priscilla must go on a journey to find a cure for Prince Paul’s curse!

A.P. Gai has done a good job with writing this book as I found myself giggling to myself at the toilet humor going on in this book!  I liked the way that A.P. Gai made Princess Priscilla be the one who rescues the Prince from a curse she (unknowingly) cast upon the Prince as it serves as a nice twist to the usual “Prince saves the Princess” plot line that is usually found in many fairy tales.  I also liked the fact that Princess Priscilla is portrayed as being extremely friendly to everyone she meets along with on her journey as it made her into a likable character and I especially liked the part about her farts saving her from misfortune throughout her journey!  Kittipong’s artwork is adorable to look at as all the characters truly look like they came out of an innocent fairy tale story and I especially loved the appearance of Priscilla herself as she has a cute appearance despite the fact that she farts a lot.  I also loved the way that Kittipong drew Priscilla’s farts as they are not colored in green, which is the usual color you see with farts being illustrated.  Instead, her farts are colored in purple and pink colors, which makes her farts look cute instead of disgusting (Farts are cute? Well, that is the first time I said that)!

The reason why I gave this book a three-and-a-half-star rating was because while the book had a pretty cute (and hilarious) premise, I felt that both the story and the characters were a bit bland at times.  As much as I like the fact that Princess Priscilla is an extremely nice character, I felt that there was not that much dimension to her character and this also includes her love interest Prince Paul, who was just there to be put into a coma for most of the story.

Overall, while “Farty Princess” is a cute story that is full of toilet humor, the story would have benefited more if there were more dimensions to the characters and to the story itself.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since some children might not like the gross humor in this book.

 You might also like:

• Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray

• Green Wilma by Tedd Arnold
• The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke

[ARC REVIEW] Sigfried's Smelly Socks! by Len Foley

Title:  Sigfried's Smelly Socks!

Author:  Len Foley

Genre:  Children's / Humor / Food / Clothing

Year Published: 2017

Year Read:  5/22/2018

Publisher: New Horizon Health, Inc.    

Source: eARC (Amazon Kindle)

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Some Gross Humor)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

I received this book through Amazon Kindle and OnlineBookClub.org in exchange for an honest review.

 Alright, I have a confession to make.  I have been trying to get into some new ways to read books online, which includes signing up for NetGalley and Edelweiss (which I have been enjoying so much lately).  So, I was a bit hesitant in using Amazon Kindle since I was so used to using NetGalley and Edelweiss to get my books online.  But, once I decided to try Amazon Kindle, I actually started to enjoy using it and one of the first books I had read from Amazon Kindle is “Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!” by Len Foley and it was quite a cute read!

A young boy is narrating the story about how he encounters several different things that smell horrible which included a rotten banana, dog urine, and his sister Piper’s dirty diaper.  But none of those things compared to the smell of his socks, which the boy describes as smelling like rotten cabbage, a toilet seat and dog slobber!  Now, that is what I call “SMELLY SOCKS!”

Len Foley did a good job at both writing and illustrating this bizarre children’s book!  I liked the way that Len Foley wrote this book as the story was quite humorous and exaggerated with the little boy, who is the narrator, listing all the horrible smells that he has encountered, including rotten foods and his smelly socks.  I liked the way that the boy in the story was exaggerating his descriptions of how badly his socks smell, such as saying that his socks smell like dog slobber and rotten cabbages as it puts an interesting spin on how children identify the different types of smells they encountered in real life.  I also liked the fact that the little boy was comparing the smell of his smelly socks to other smelly items such as a dirty diaper, a rotten banana and an old pizza slice as it would help children identify with what items have stinky smells.  Len Foley’s artwork was quite humorous to look at as all the characters have exaggerated features such as large noses and large rounded eyes.  The artwork reminds me a bit of Tedd Arnold’s artwork from his children’s books “Green Wilma” and the “Parts” series as they both have characters who have large rounded eyes that make their appearances look humorous.

The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was because even though I found the premise to be cute, the story was not quite as hilarious to me as other children’s books with gross out humor like “Walter the Farting Dog” and “Pat the Beastie.”  Also, for anyone who does not like gross out humor, this book does have some gross moments, such as giving us images of realistic food items that are rotting (which I will admit made me feel a bit nauseous at times).

Overall, “Siegfried’s Smelly Socks” is a truly cute children’s book about exploring horrible smells that children who are interested in gross humor will definitely enjoy!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since some children might be a bit gross out by some of the rotting food imagery.

You might also like:

• Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray

• Green Wilma by Tedd Arnold
• Pat the Beastie by Henrik Drescher