Once Upon a Potty: Boy

by Alona Frankel (Author & Illustrator)

"The classic books on a timeless subject -- for a new generation."

In 1975, Alona Frankel wrote and illustrated her first book, especially for her son Michael, on how to use the potty. Thirty-two years later, Once Upon a Potty -- Boy and Once Upon a Potty -- Girl are the classic books on potty training and have sold more than four million copies worldwide. These children's books help parents everywhere deal successfully with an often vexing challenge for the whole family.

Thanks to their timeless words and beloved images, Once Upon a Potty -- Boy and Once Upon a Potty -- Girl are being discovered and used by a new generation of parents. These two books, with their phenomenal staying power, target and meet the needs of an obviously perpetual market.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Parenting, Nonfiction, Juvenile

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1980

About the author

Alona Frankel was born on June 27, 1937 in Cracow, Poland. As a Jew under the German occupation of World War II, she was forced along with her parents and all other Jews into the Lvov Ghetto. After the ghetto was liquidated by the Nazis, Alona was sent off to hide in a remote, Catholic village, with forged documents. Pretending to be a Christian child, she worked and slept in a barn with her new friends the pigs.

Alona and her parents survived the World War and immigrated to Israel in 1949. She began illustrating books in her thirties and in the mid-70's wrote and illustrated the picturebook "Once Upon a Potty" [in Hebrew: "Sir Ha'Sirim"] which grew into an international bestseller, including in English, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Hungarian and Italian languages. The Joshua (for boys) and Prudence (for girls) books remain the #1 all-time potty related classics in the United States, and around the world.

Alona has written and illustrated over 50 children's books, in addition to designing covers and illustrating dozens of books by other authors. Her books have been translated into many languages and her art has been featured at exhibitions worldwide. Frankel has won numerous prizes, including multiple Parent’s Choice awards, and the Hans Christian Andersen List of the International Board on Books for Young People.

"The difference between adults and children is only life experience, their wealth of associations, and the child's dependence upon the grownup," explains Alona. "Other than that, I hold children's judgment and opinions in the highest regard, and have great respect for them."

In recent years, she has also begun writing books for adults and YA (Young Adults): the first, “Girl” [in Hebrew: “Yalda”] was awarded The Sapir Prize for literature and Yad Va’Shem’s Buchman Prize. It will be published in English this September by Indiana University Press and has been favorably compared to the writings of Anne Frank, Primo Levi and Marcel Proust, no less!

Alona is a mother of two sons – Ari and Michael – and a grandmother of five. She lives and works in Tel-Aviv, Israel. For more information, please visit www.alonafrankel.com online.

Reviews

[Dianna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read a lot of my potty books in my time. Since child number three is coming of age, I picked this up from the library to read it with him. You guys. I just couldn't. I would have to be beyond desperate to come back to this one.

[B · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book annoyed the heck out of me.
(sorry, I know lots of people love it and swear by this one...)

bleh. the images (potty representation does not resemble a toilet), terminology and other little things just weren't for me.
no thanks.
i'll pass on the book and the DVD version.

and if i read/hear "wee-wee" one more time...ahhh!
just say PEE, people!! or peepee... whiz...number one... whatever! i can't take "weewee" :)

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

From about 9-13 months, my son refused to sit and read a book with my husband and I. Of course I stressed out about it and read books at him during that time. In hindsight, I know he was working on his gross motor skills and one of the things he would often do was crawl to a shelf in his room full of my old picture books. He would always single out my "girl" copy of this book, promptly pull it off the shelf and rifle through the pages. The book is now destroyed because he always sought it.

A few months ago, I decided to buy a boy/board book version for him and it was an immediate hit. I am not interested in potty training right now, but the book has us talking about it enough where I bought him his own potty recently (which he likes to push around the wood floors and use the insert as a top hat).

He loves the colorful illustrations... we always talk about the flowers and background colors. He always says "uh-oh" when we reach the page where Joshua misses the potty (pretty sure Apple designed the poo emoji based off of the poop in this book), and he always turns to the back page, points at Alona Frankel and says "mommy!" Yeah, we're working on that one...

I like that we're talking about potty training long before we're set to begin it. I just don't have the energy, nor have I developed a strategy that will likely fail anyways. Either way, I have this colorful 70s-esque book to thank for helping us begin the long journey to underpants and multiple trips to public restrooms.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Because of some of the reviews I read, I bought this book for my toddler with the understanding that it was very descriptive about the body parts involved in using the bathroom. I guess I wasn't aware that a "wee-wee" is what you "make pee-pee" with and that only mommy changes diapers. This book is just not for us. I have read it to my son a few times, using anatomical terms in place of the cutesy terms, but overall I am not impressed, so I am still in search of a good potty training book.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

When my son was at the potty training age, this book was too wordy and long for him. There are better books out there for short attention spans.

Plus, I find this book old-fashioned because the potty looks somewhat like a chamberpot or a vase in the illustrations. This may be confusing for very small kids.

[Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing is good about pooping in a pot...

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative book about little boy learning to use the potty. It's very instructive and the pictures are anatomical correct. The book, however, needs to be updated to current times. The chamberpot is no longer used and mothers are not the only ones who change diapers. For simplicity's sake, though, the book will probably go well with other books on toilet training.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mom used these books with my siblings, and now I am using this one with my son in our (so far unsuccessful) potty-training journey. They're a bit strange, but he absolutely loves them, and they do get the point across.

[Andrew D. [Uncle_Ratfoot] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply enthralling…a real literary masterpiece. My attention was immediately captured and held throughout this riveting tale of biology told through the lense of potty training. I especially loved her use of repetition on the page that’s literally nothing but the words “and sat,” written over and over again. On a scale of one to nine, I’d rate this an eleven!!

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an X-mas gift from a family member when I was only like 3 months pregnant, and I thought it was a weird gift. I was unaware how important it would one day be!
I moved across the country with my boy shortly before he was potty-trainable. I misplaced the book and ended up not having it when I needed it. After I had decided that potty-training my child was the hardest thing in the world since labor, I got my hands on the book again. And that's the end of the story!!! My son read the book with me, loved it, and decided to be just like "Joshua" who learned to go Potty! I also borrowed the video version of the story from the library and the room full of babies singing the potty song helped him become even more excited about going potty like a big kid. Thanks to this book, the ordeal of potty training was brought to a much-needed end.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this years ago with my son. Pretty popular potty training book. I like that there's a boy version and a girl version, so your child can relate to the child pictured. My older kids read the girl version to my youngest the other day and they came up to me afterwards and said, "Mom, that book is weird." ha ha I think because it specifically talks about the body parts, which is kinda odd and uncomfortable, but I think it probably does help the little ones trying to understand what the heck is going on with their bodies and why they're supposed to sit on this weird thing to do it! Anyway, I don't know that it helps kids become potty trained, but it helps keep them entertained while they sit on the potty and helps mom and dad try to explain their bodily functions to them.

[Jeffrey Yasskin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has 3 main things wrong with it:

1) It repeats "I, Joshua's mother" over and over, implying that fathers don't change diapers or help with toilet training.

2) It uses cutesy language: "make a Wee-Wee" instead of "pee", "pee-pee" instead of "penis".

3) It shows toilet training as being finished when the kid pees and poops in the potty once, but the kid also needs to be able to reliably tell when they need to head toward the potty

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

A lot of people like this book and I had heard of it before but was under impressed. It just didn't do anything for me and I didn't like reading it to my 3 year old who is already potty trained; glad to return it to the library!

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The little sound buttons are great, and the flushing sound sure is a hit, but if I have to make myself say the words "wee-wee" or "pee-pee" out loud again, I will scream. Just call it what it is, people!

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm told this is a classic. It was helpful for introducing potty training to Oscar. He really liked the anatomically correct illustrations, though I did update the language when reading it to him since it seemed like the book should also use the anatomically correct language.

[Lain · Rating 1 out of 5]

Um, no. Uncomfortable to read. Did not read this to my son.

[A Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Children ask me to read this book again and again. For that reason, I will say it is an "okay" book, but I think there are better potty training books available. When I read this book aloud, I change several words. First, I exclude the "he is a boy" part because not everyone with a penis is a boy. Speaking of which, I also call the body parts by their real names because it is important for the children to learn them. Lastly, I change "wee-wee" and "poo-poo" to simply "pee" and "poop" when I read it.

[Evianrei · Rating 1 out of 5]

My three year old son picked this book at the library (and it slipped through, as I flip through all the books he wants to check out to be sure they are appropriate). This book shows visuals of body parts, while cartoon-styled, I still find it to be inappropriate for children. If Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger won't show this sort of stuff on TV, why are kids allowed to pick it up and read it in the toddler section?

Opened to the first two pages, closed it, returned it the next day.
Absolutely not.

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have given this book a high rating due to its simplicity and major help it provides for both children and families whilst potty training, having seen myself how helpful it has been throughout potty training! The book helps potting training to be fun rather than difficult, telling the reader in a fun way what they should do in order to master potty training, this allows children to be more excited and some even feel as if they are part of the story themselves.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly like this one, with honest, though simple and not overly graphic descriptions and illustrations of bodies and parts. It explains where poop comes from, and that it's ok not to get everything in the potty in the beginning, but takes time. I don't like the pet names like "wee-wee" rather than correct anatomical terms like penis, but she does state in the beginning too feel free to modify the book to use your own terms, so it's at least addressed.

[Terry Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow. I don’t think I’m in the right age group for this dated “classic.”...

PS - little boys pee standing up ... otherwise if sitting down as shown in this book, they would send a vibrant yellow stream shooting up and all around from their tiny doodles.

[Kelly Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book probably 300 times in the past week. My toddler absolutely loves it. I hate it now, but it's still a good book. It's got way more anatomical detail than other books, which I think can be helpful for the learning process.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once Upon a Potty: Boy by Alona Frankel – I was looking through books for my nephews and this one popped up on Amazon! I remember reading it to my little brother three decades ago, so this is something of an enduring classic lol! Happy Reading!

[Carly MJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome potty training book.

[Atlantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to my oldest (she is now 18) and now Im reading it to my youngest. Just a simple way to introduce going to the potty. Plain speaking with a note of encouragement for new parents.

[E]

My mommy accidentally bought this because it was at my sisters school fair, and didn’t know there were boy and girl versions

[Charles Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for children who still wear diapers.

[Desirae G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have used this book over 31 years ago as an helpful aid for my children . I now enjoy giving it as a gift to new parents.

[Ethan & Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is because of this book that I call pee "wee-wee"much to my mommy's dismay. But, who cares, because I actually really like this book.

[Shane Waxler]

I'm not sure i understand