18. Farley Farts

18. Farley Farts by Birte Muller

This is a really terrible book. I found it at Goodwill, and I'm usually drawn to the weird and gross things in life. So when I saw the word fart in the title, I didn't hesitate. Not one bit. Unfortunately, the only good think about this book is the illustrations. I love the coloring and the character design is pretty amazing. I love the frogs blank expression and his little fingers. This book was originally published in Switzerland under the title Fritz Frosch. I wish they kept the name Fritz, it's great. The direct English translation is actually Fritz Frog. I wonder why there is no mention of farting in the original title... Maybe us silly Americans would be more drawn to it if "fart" was in the title... which is exactly why I even picked it up... touche.

Farley Farts is a story about a frog who cannot control his farts. He farts at home, he farts in the pond ("It was like a Jacuzzi!"), he farts for the doctor, he farts at school. His mother tells him to hold his farts in overnight, which causes him to blow up like a balloon (you know, because he's filled with gas) and floats away. His dad yells at him from the ground to, "Fart, Farley, just as loud as you can!" He does, and he "flipped and fluttered and floated" down to the ground. They celebrated his homecoming by eating, what? BEAN SOUP. No wonder he farts so much...

Now, this is an amusing tale. Jenny loves blowing raspberries with her tongue lately, so she laughs whenever we need to make Farley fart. I love the texture of the illustrations, and the use of color is beautiful. All of the frogs in this story have a creepy stare, like their mouths are sewn shut and their eyelids are glued open... which I find to be hilarious. But I have a few issues with the story.

1. Who takes their kid to the doctor because he's just farting a lot? Try not feeding him bean soup all the time, and maybe he'll stop! The mom is an idiot.
2. Joey McIntyre came out with his 2nd solo album in 2001. This book was published in 2003. Clearly the author ripped off his song, "We Don't Wanna Come Down," because we have a very, very similar line. Lyric: From so far away the world can look so beautiful. Narrative: From way up high, the world below looked so beautiful. THIS IS A CONSPIRACY.
3. Once Farley hits the ground, the line in the book says he landed on his back. Clearly, he is illustrated as landing on his belly.

I will keep this book in my collection, simply because Jenny loves blowing raspberries. You can do a farting book well (i.e. Toot by Leslie Patricelli or Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle), but this isn't one of them.