Mul­ti­ple children’s books have tack­led the ques­tions that arise from the bib­li­cal sto­ry of Noah’s Ark, pon­der­ing prob­lems like: How did Noah keep the weight of the ani­mals even­ly dis­trib­uted? Why did Noah choose the dove to seek out dry land? And how did Noah deal with all the ani­mals’ noise? Now, Ker­ry Olitzky attempts to answer an equal­ly press­ing ques­tion: Where did all of the ani­mals on the ark go pot­ty? The sim­ple text and adorable, play­ful illus­tra­tions explain that there are places on the ark for each ani­mal to eat, sleep, play, and use the pot­ty. The dif­fer­ent pot­ties are made with grass, dirt, sand, and rocks, and come in all sizes. Moth­er Hen shows a lit­tle rac­coon how to use the pot­ty spe­cial­ly designed for him. The wise owl explains to the gath­ered ani­mals: ​“Your body is spe­cial. All kinds of things are hap­pen­ing inside it. Food goes in and helps to make us strong. But food also needs a way to leave your body when your body is done using it.”

The book includes a brief note about the logis­tics of the ark on the inside front flap, but does not give any expla­na­tion of who Noah was, nor does it dis­cuss the flood. The sto­ry ends with Owl teach­ing the ani­mals a bless­ing trans­lat­ed from the Hebrew for using the pot­ty. Young chil­dren already famil­iar with the sto­ry of Noah’s Ark will cer­tain­ly be enter­tained, but as a book to teach about and encour­age pot­ty train­ing, it is rather didac­tic and uninspiring.

Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 1 to 4.