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Once Upon a Potty #girl
Once Upon a Potty: Girl
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.
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.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
9 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
About the author
Alona Frankel
63 books27 followersAlona 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
October 20, 2015
I get that this is a potty-training "classic" but I'm really not okay with telling my daughter that she has a "wee-wee for pee-pee." I know she can't pronounce the word "urethra" right now, but I'm way more comfortable using the actual terms rather than the cutesy ones. The first person with the mom telling the story also felt strange because it didn't give the little girl very much agency within the story that's supposed to be about her.
January 25, 2021
The "potty" didn't look anything like any of our facilities, and it bugged my husband that only mom was responsible for changing diapers.
December 7, 2012
My daughter loves to read this book when she's on the potty. We'll take turns. My husband or I start and that's usually when she goes potty. Then when we've finished reading it, she'll take the book and "read" back to us. We've read this book so many times that she's got it memorized.
The only things that I don't like about this book is that it says "Wee-wee" and "Poo-poo." That may be fine for some families, but I don't like making cutesy of a body function. So when we read the book, we just say Pee and Poop instead. There's also a part in the book where the grammar, although correct, is really hard to read and understand even for an adult. Why make something harder to read and understand when a book is meant for a toddler? It's not about style. It's about a fun story for kids to read while learning to use the potty. This section of the book actually irritates me so much, that when I read, I skip it entirely.
Aside from those two issues, it's a good book that does the job that it's meant to do: make going on the potty more fun than just sitting there and waiting for something to happen.
The only things that I don't like about this book is that it says "Wee-wee" and "Poo-poo." That may be fine for some families, but I don't like making cutesy of a body function. So when we read the book, we just say Pee and Poop instead. There's also a part in the book where the grammar, although correct, is really hard to read and understand even for an adult. Why make something harder to read and understand when a book is meant for a toddler? It's not about style. It's about a fun story for kids to read while learning to use the potty. This section of the book actually irritates me so much, that when I read, I skip it entirely.
Aside from those two issues, it's a good book that does the job that it's meant to do: make going on the potty more fun than just sitting there and waiting for something to happen.
May 31, 2024
3/2/2024 - A very cute story about a mother and daughter going through potty training. The potty looked more like a water pitcher, but the author is from another country, so maybe that’s how they look. My daughter and I enjoyed it, so I’d read it again with her.
5/30/2024 - Read again with Madison.
5/30/2024 - Read again with Madison.
January 3, 2024
The search for good toddler potty training books is on. This was not it.
Only Prudence’s mother was described as changing her diaper which completely excludes the dads from the whole process.
I ordered this book because I heard it mentioned body parts (which is why there is a boy & girl version) but I am so disappointed there isn’t anatomically correct names.
“A pee-pee for making Wee-Wee”
“A bottom for sitting and in it a little hole for making Poo-Poo.”
This will be returned.
Only Prudence’s mother was described as changing her diaper which completely excludes the dads from the whole process.
I ordered this book because I heard it mentioned body parts (which is why there is a boy & girl version) but I am so disappointed there isn’t anatomically correct names.
“A pee-pee for making Wee-Wee”
“A bottom for sitting and in it a little hole for making Poo-Poo.”
This will be returned.
April 12, 2018
Cissexist and also like, if you need to arbitrarily gender books at least use anatomical terminology. Kids need to know the name of their body parts.
March 31, 2025
Wasn’t prepared for the butthole illustration but it served a purpose
May 7, 2011
There are different versions of this classic tome, and I'll be talking about the one we have, the Girl version, complete with matching Prudence doll, her plastic potty, and an accompanying DVD.
When Ellie was about 18 months old, she developed a great interest in the potty and her developmental therapist recommended this book. Ellie loved the book from our first read through, and still requests it regularly nearly 4 years later. She was, however, completely creeped out by the weird-looking Prudence doll for quite a while so we substituted a beanie Dora the Explorer on the plastic potty. She loved that, and the DVD was an even greater hit.
But this is supposed to be a book review, right? Ellie immediately "got" this book, and wanted to keep it right next to her potty chair to read every time we were in the bathroom. Which, as you might imagine, was frequently. Her favorite part was the page where Prudence sat on the potty. "And sat and sat and sat and sat." 77 times. Even now, as a five-year-old, she's happy to sit on the toilet as long as it would take her to sound out the words "and sat" 77 times. I'm not kidding; I counted. 77. I've certainly had ample opportunity to do the math.
Now Ellie has a little sister who just turned two and is very interested in all things potty-related, including this book. Fortunately, Ada prefers me to truncate the "and sat and sat and sat" page. She likes the next page more, where Prudence stands up and sees what's inside the potty. Both "Wee-Wee and Poo-Poo!"
As we all know, a good picture book tells a story in both words and pictures, where the illustrations work as hard as the text to convey meaning. This book is no exception. It's just that I'm not quite clever enough to have figured out what Frankel was trying to illustrate with her drawing of "poo-poo."
Ada gets the whole potty concept, in theory and in practice (if somewhat inconsistently). But she studies this one illustration with her head cocked to the side, then looks up at me. "Ice cream?" she says. Now that she draws (hah hah) this to my attention, I see that she does have a valid point. (Ah-hem) It's just that now whenever we read this book - a mere 2-3 times a day - I sort of want to vomit 2/3 of the way through.
The whole time I've been writing this - and for entire months of the last few years - I've had the fabulous little jingle from the DVD stuck in my head.
When Ellie was about 18 months old, she developed a great interest in the potty and her developmental therapist recommended this book. Ellie loved the book from our first read through, and still requests it regularly nearly 4 years later. She was, however, completely creeped out by the weird-looking Prudence doll for quite a while so we substituted a beanie Dora the Explorer on the plastic potty. She loved that, and the DVD was an even greater hit.
But this is supposed to be a book review, right? Ellie immediately "got" this book, and wanted to keep it right next to her potty chair to read every time we were in the bathroom. Which, as you might imagine, was frequently. Her favorite part was the page where Prudence sat on the potty. "And sat and sat and sat and sat." 77 times. Even now, as a five-year-old, she's happy to sit on the toilet as long as it would take her to sound out the words "and sat" 77 times. I'm not kidding; I counted. 77. I've certainly had ample opportunity to do the math.
Now Ellie has a little sister who just turned two and is very interested in all things potty-related, including this book. Fortunately, Ada prefers me to truncate the "and sat and sat and sat" page. She likes the next page more, where Prudence stands up and sees what's inside the potty. Both "Wee-Wee and Poo-Poo!"
As we all know, a good picture book tells a story in both words and pictures, where the illustrations work as hard as the text to convey meaning. This book is no exception. It's just that I'm not quite clever enough to have figured out what Frankel was trying to illustrate with her drawing of "poo-poo."
Ada gets the whole potty concept, in theory and in practice (if somewhat inconsistently). But she studies this one illustration with her head cocked to the side, then looks up at me. "Ice cream?" she says. Now that she draws (hah hah) this to my attention, I see that she does have a valid point. (Ah-hem) It's just that now whenever we read this book - a mere 2-3 times a day - I sort of want to vomit 2/3 of the way through.
The whole time I've been writing this - and for entire months of the last few years - I've had the fabulous little jingle from the DVD stuck in my head.
July 22, 2009
Cover all the basics, and I, her mother, enjoyed it.
June 5, 2020
I’m sure this book was revolutionary in the 70s. It’s so dated now. Miserable to read, weird language, skip for sure.
May 4, 2021
This book was already outdated when it was read to me as a kid, and definitely didn't age well for a potty training kiddo in 2021. Skiiiip.
November 28, 2017
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 "she is a girl" part because not everyone with a vagina is a girl. 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.
January 23, 2018
Miss 3 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
This was one of many. many picture books we got out from the library to do with toilet training. It was okay. I think Miss 3 might have liked it better if the graphics looked more like the kind of potty she recognises (rather than a chamber pot). The book didn't seem to interest her.
This was one of many. many picture books we got out from the library to do with toilet training. It was okay. I think Miss 3 might have liked it better if the graphics looked more like the kind of potty she recognises (rather than a chamber pot). The book didn't seem to interest her.
November 17, 2021
This book taught me one of my most valuable life skills as a kid and it's one that I still use to this day. My version even came with a VHS that had an animated version of this book so I truly got the full learning experience.
This book wouldn't exactly be high art for me now (although the art style is really cute), so instead, I'm receiving a huge amount of enjoyment from the really angry reviews on this page that are wondering why this 1975 children's book that often came with a plastic toilet didn't use current anatomical terms and instead used the word "wee-wee".
This book wouldn't exactly be high art for me now (although the art style is really cute), so instead, I'm receiving a huge amount of enjoyment from the really angry reviews on this page that are wondering why this 1975 children's book that often came with a plastic toilet didn't use current anatomical terms and instead used the word "wee-wee".
October 16, 2021
Like many others, I don't telling my daughter she has "a wee-wee for making pee-pee." This potty doesn't look like any potty we own or are likely to run into, and the mom's first person narration is weird. There is also a waste of pages asking "was it a flower pot? No, it wasn't a flower pot" along with a hat, a dog food bowl, and some others. It isn't cute and it isn't intuitive. There are much better potty training books out there.
January 12, 2023
If you're trying to teach your child about using the potty, this book is not the one...
I don't like the terminology used for pee, poop and vagina. I also don't like some of the illustrations in the book. One such image is honestly appalling. In addition, the image used for the potty itself looks nothing like a modern potty training potty.
While this book could potentially work for you, it does not work for me and my family.
I don't like the terminology used for pee, poop and vagina. I also don't like some of the illustrations in the book. One such image is honestly appalling. In addition, the image used for the potty itself looks nothing like a modern potty training potty.
While this book could potentially work for you, it does not work for me and my family.
April 22, 2020
While I appreciate the simple terms used the perspective (Prudence's mother) makes it awkward. The author's note in thw beginning does indicate to swap out the words in the story for the ones your family ia most comfortable using but that too can cause some stumbling at first. My daughter has trouble focusing for the entire book but we'll keep trying!
January 30, 2018
I got this book from the library because I was looking for books to read to my clients as we teach them toilet training. The language and visuals in this book are horrible. I would not recommend this to anyone teaching their child to toilet train.
January 24, 2019
What a wonderful little book for toddlers and other little folk, told in an understandable way. It seems to me that this book would be a real enticement for a toddler to stop using her diapers and use her pot instead!
February 4, 2019
حاجة جميلة جدا إنه يتم تناول الموضوع ده بطريقة لطيفة جدا كده ، أفضل مليون مرة من طرق الترهيب والتخويف اللي بتستخدمها أغلب الأمهات المصريين مع أطفالهم ... المصريين مظلومين يا عيني حتي ف قضاء الحاجة .. مسم !
January 11, 2024
This was recommended to us to potty train our daughter. My little one was able to get the gist of it, and it helped her on her potty training journey. However, the illustration could improve so the potty looks like a real potty.
June 19, 2025
Mom actually sent my copy to us as H is potty curious. In hindsight, it's kinda rude that Prudence's mother is doing all the diaper changing and potty training! But anyway I do remember this being my first butthole illustration as it talks about making wee wee and poo poo in the potty.
May 15, 2017
Useful book for who have little baby.
July 26, 2017
Why can't we use real names for real body parts?
September 5, 2017
vintage throwback from my youth! love the classic illustrations, it is a smidge dated though, and a little long for a 17mo
May 3, 2018
Review to come.
February 12, 2019
Got it from the library and my daughter loves it. She even quoted it and went potty by herself today. WIN!
June 5, 2019
This has to be the worst children’s book I’ve ever read. I literally created an account on here so I could say how bad it was
September 1, 2019
I have no idea why I loved this book so much, but I vividly remember reading it even after I had already learned what it was trying to teach me.
November 10, 2019
I am going to start doing the poo poo in the potty soon so Mama bought me the book. I think this is super fun!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews