Once Upon a Potty -- Boy

This book worked so well when I was potty training my son that I bought one for my grandson.

This book is perhaps a bit graphic to the uninitiated, but then again, so is potty training, especially with inquisitive toddlers. I purchased this to read to my son when he sat on the potty for longer periods of time when he was first potty training, and he loved it. He helped read some of the funny parts--"Was it a hat? No, it wasn't a hat. Was it a milk bowl for the cat? No, it wasn't a milk bowl for the cat. . .It was a potty!" and he was fascinated by the straightforward explanations. I was blessed by a child that potty trained early, but this book certainly helped him understand some of the tougher questions of potty training. Cute illustrations, pleasant storyline, all around helpful. I even purchased an additional one for a friend's son who was not showing any interest in potty training, and he loved it too.One addition: We personally choose to say "pee" and "poop" at our house, rather than the other descriptors like "pee-pee", etc. used by this book. In other reviews people seem to really have a gripe with having to change the wording, but I own several other potty training books and even an Elmo DVD, and none of those use "our" wording for all parts and processes, either. I like to personalize books for my son, and, as in this one, I changed not only the "pee"-type words, but also changed the little boy Joshua's name to my son's name instead. It's not a big deal, that's just how I choose to read books. Also, the tone of this book is pretty tongue-in-cheek funny for the adults reading it, or at the least to me. I got pretty sick of reading the other potty training books we owned, but this one was always welcome.

Love this book had the girl one when I was little

I love the book. Friendly, positive regarding diapers, accidents and trying without success. Only negative is the use of childish terms for products and body parts. I would have preferred correct use of real terms.

It helps with potty training! Gets kids attention!

Things I love about Once Upon a Potty:It's a very sweet and simple story, and when it comes to teaching toddlers, it's important to keep things clear and simple. Little kids don't get metaphor.It doesn't shy away from being anatomically descriptive, but in a way that little kids really can understand and relate to.It actually shows the poop and pee...which may sound gross to more squeamish adults, but for a little kid who's trying to learn, it's great to have a visual for what they're actually aiming for (no pun intended).The author openly states in a note to parents that she encourages them to change the descriptive words in the book to whatever they use in their own family. Which I usually do anyway, but it's nice to see.The only thing I DON'T like about this book:It shows Joshua picking up his potty and bringing it to his mother. My son now tries this if he pees when I'm not in the room...it's a disaster every time, lol. So it might be helpful to explain, when reading this book, that the child should not try and move his own potty (especially today's potties which tend to have more parts than the chamber pot in the book).Otherwise, it's just such a great book!

Perfect for teaching little ones

I love this book. I just bought it for my twins and they want me to read it every night. Also I remember my mother reading it to my brother when he was potty training so I would call it a classic. The story is so cute and funny. I would definitely recommend it to anyone trying to potty train.

I had been looking at reviews for 'potty training' stories and had been finding the choice quite overwhelming as I didn't want to buy loads or spend a fortune. In the end I opted for this one because of the reviews (along with a couple of others as well). At first I wasn't very sure I'd made the right choice; it seemed almost a little too detailed for my liking!! It also seemed a bit old fashioned. On first reading my son seemed to almost agree with me and seemed slightly unnerved by it. After that he became quite fascinated and we have read it many times. It is quite long and also quite formal / serious compared to some potty training stories (such as 'On Your Potty!', 'Max's potty' - my personal favourite and 'Nappy Duck and Potty Pig') and whether it has / will help with potty training remains to be seen. However if you want a potty training book about a human rather than cute animals then I would definately recommend this.

I grew up in the US, and I remember my brother having this book when I was young, so I was pleased to find it here in the UK and had hoped it would persuade my reluctant two-year-old to use the potty. Alas, I find it far too graphic for my taste! I'm hardly prudish -- I regularly talk to my son about his body parts and bodily functions -- but I just can't read this without grimacing. I'm not sure my son needs to see an anus or piles of poo, albeit very cartoonish ones, to want to use the potty. Also, as others noted, I have to change so much of the language as I read the book (e.g. 'pee pee' to 'penis' and 'diaper' to 'nappy'), its use is limited. I decided to persist, hoping it would give my son the encouragement he needs to use the potty, but he just looked bemused. The illustrations are adorable, perhaps more so to adults than to children, but as others have noted, the fact that the potty doesn't really look like a contemporary child's potty further limits the book's usefulness.

This book and its sister volume, I consider do the job perfectly.Both my son and my neice (one in UK and other in Aus)had reached a stalled staged in their potty use development. Both kids dry at night from 2 years oldbut both adamantly opposed to doing "big job"s outside of their nappies. I found this book in a desperate bid to find a solution (I had maintained a levelhead throughout to avoid further hangups relating to this natural process, but could see no end in sight without a child's explanation of this bodily process.Within one reading my son had processed the information (it was like seeing the proverbial light bulb go on) and never looked back at his disappearingnappy.I immediately sent the sister copy to my brother addressing it specifically to my neice and needless to say the book again did the trick.I really liked the matter of fact approach to the subject combined with simple but informative images; and the approach taken by Joshua's mother provides acalm and safe atmosphere to explore the topic. It is absurd that there is griping about the way the potty looks (a bona fide chamber pot) and the useof US vernacular in the text. Kids are not dumb; they can still process information even though the pictures don't exactly reflect their known world and,as has already been noted, it is easy enough to subsitute your preferred words for body bits etc. The important aspect for my son was the drawings.He feared the feeling of the bowel motion and what it produced, by reading this book his sense of control was reinstated.At the time of purchase it was the only one of its kind, that I could unearth, which took a mature clinical look at a pivotal point in toddler developmentand aimed it at that age group. I am glad now that other books for kids have since been published that treat the topic sensibly.

This book is visually useful and was very helpful in giving my 3 year son the confidence to finally do a poo in his potty instead of his nappy pants! The story is good and straight to the point although I found I had to change certain words so that my son would understand it as it uses American dialogue.

I do like this book and find it helpful to read to my little boy, especially as his name is Joshua too, like the little boy in the book. The only thing i dont like is that its very amercian, using the word diaper etc. Also the potty looks more like a jug. All in all it is a good read though and i just change the words around a bit.