Excuse me! by Dave Hughes and Holly Ife

Ill. by Philip Bunting. Scholastic, 2017. ISBN 9781742765914
(Age: 3-8) Theme: Manners. Martha May is so well mannered. She wouldn't dream of burping or farting. But when she takes part in the Baked Bean Bonanza at school her tummy starts gurgling and bloating. She holds it in. She absolutely will not fart. Not even when her stomach, filled with gas, lifts her up and away, higher and higher into the sky. When the man at the top of a tall building tells her "It doesn't matter if no-one's close enough to mind, sometimes you just have to let it out!" she lets out the most tremendous fart.
This is a book about how farting and being polite are not mutually exclusive and that even the best mannered people have to pass wind occasionally. As a society we are becoming much more open about our bodily functions and this is just another in a long line of toilet humour publications that are normalising subjects that were once a little bit naughty. I especially love that the main character is a little girl, femininely dressed and sporting a flower in her hair, bucking the 'ladies don't fart' myth. There is also a tremendous amount of synonyms for farting and many, many fart sounds. Young children will love it.
Nicole Nelson