Funny bums by Dr Mark Norman

Black Dog Books, 2013. ISBN 978
(Age: 6+) Recommended. Picture book. Animals. Humour.
From the wonderful elephant on the front cover, back to the audience, to the fabulous ducks on the back cover, emulating the old poem,
All along the back water,
Through the rushes tall,
Ducks are a-dabbling,
Up tails all!
(Wind in the willows, Kenneth Grahame)
the photos and words in this book will keep children amused and involved as they see the bums of many animals portrayed and discussed. Dr Mark Norman has written several wonderful books for black dog, including three books in the Wild Planet series (Antarctica, Great Barrier Reef, and The shark book), and Into the deep, Rare Earth: Saving Tasmanian Tigers.
In this one, he uses his prodigious scientific background to tell the reader neatly and efficiently, about the nether regions of a range of animals which includes the lemur, seahorse, several spiders and creeping insects, skunks, porcupines and lizards. Some have spines, some use smell emanating from their behinds, some have sticky substances, while some have exploding behinds (kids will love that one) Each group of animals has a few succinct words given and a number of wonderful photographs to illustrate the text.
There is, as always with black dog books, a useful index, an informative glossary and two pages with a fact file about the animals mentioned. All in all a most useful and fascinating book. But watch out for the African Bombardier Beetle.
Fran Knight