My last review panned a book entitled So Big, where I had a field day trying to describe a very badly drawn Elmo.
I also mentioned that the same illustrator had done a job on Grover in another book my daughter owned.

This is that book.

Potty time, written by Parker K. Sawyer and Illustrated by Christopher Moroney, is a Sesame Street Beginnings level 5 reader (24 to 36 months). This book, like So Big, is published by Random House.

It deals with the subject of potty training with Baby Grover as the primary character and Babies Ernie, Bert, Big Bird and Zoe making an appearance.
Most of it is actually pretty cute. The characters’ experiences are stereotypical of their personalities and any grown up who has lived with Sesame Street in their childhood will probably crack a smile. Bert takes to potty training easily and dutifully washes his hands thoroughly (and really... wasn’t Bert always just a bit over-achieving and retentive) while Ernie is too busy playing and tends to have accidents.
But that’s OK Ernie, accidents happen. You don’t have to feel bad, you fun loving little scamp, you’ll do better next time...

...or maybe not. I always pictured Ernie as the kind of kid who was probably late when it came to potty training, just as I always pictured him as being the sort of mischievous kid who would hammer nails in your dining room table, climb a tree and not be able to get down (forcing you to either drag out the extension ladder or call the fire department) and jump off the roof of the house with paper wings stuck on his arms, thinking he’d be able to fly.

Bert makes a cute kid, as does Ernie. Little Big Bird looks a bit out of touch, but it’s my opinion that he has always looked a bit like that, so I can’t really fault anything there. The story is straightforward and simple and is the perfect length for bedtime. It reinforces the fact that potty training isn’t easy and that your child shouldn’t feel bad when they don’t pick it up right away. Different people move at different speeds.
It’s supportive.

So why only 3 stars? Sounds like a really good book.

The answer is Grover... or more appropriately Christopher Moroney’s “Artist’s Conception” of Grover, because this is no Grover I’ve ever seen.

I’m sure you all have favorite cartoons or TV show characters from when you were kids. If someone drew Barney Rubble with black hair you went bananas. When the artists who drew the Archie comics changed... most of us stopped reading.
God forbid anyone should draw The Shmoo with out his spiky little moustache.

In the same respect, GROVER DOES NOT HAVE 5 INCH THICK, FLAMING, RED LIPS!!!

(phew... has someone got an aspirin?)

He’s not a streetwalker, he’s had no plastic surgery and there is no reason for his lips to look like they were ripped off of Jennifer Coolidge’s face.
The eyes are wrong, the nose is wrong and as far as I’m aware, Grover is not a bobble head. Also, I may be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure that Chris’ version of Grover has slathered an entire bottle of styling gel on his fur and gone to town with a hair dryer.

I‘ve been annoyed enough with this illustrator that I started looking at other work he’s done. Most of his illustrations of the Sesame Street characters when they are grown up appear fine. As I said before, baby Ernie and Bert are downright cute, so it appears that Chris’ big problem is drawing baby versions of the furry Muppets.
I’d have to see his conception of Oscar or Cookie to be sure of this.

Like So Big and many other Sesame Street Readers, each page is an eighth of an inch thick cardboard so my daughter will have a hard time destroying them. The one part of the book that she did manage to ruin was on the final page and was a definite selling feature.
On the last page was a toilette and when you pulled a little paper lever, the waste in the toilette (and while it would be intriguing to see what Grover Poop looks like, it's just a little pee) was flushed away. I found that having a flushable toilette at the end of this artist’s work deliciously ironic, but my daughter ripped it out. It was thin paper and not well attached.

While I have to give this book a recommendation, based solely on the story and message, I also feel like I’ve been forced to pick through every book that my daughter owns to see if she has any more by this illustrator. Thankfully she doesn’t. The last thing I want is to sit down for a nice story time with her only to have this animating torturer leap out from behind a curtain and whack me in the head with his inept number two pencil.

It’s a shame that I‘m going to go out of my way to bypass 16 other kid’s books just to avoid this one guy. Luckily, this was another Winners acquisition and I only paid $4.50 for it.


Recommended: Yes