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Thunder Down Under
Crikey! Someone just farted! It’s HUGE. It’s smelly. But who did it? Not Wombat, Emu or Kangaroo. Tiny Numbat knows, but NOBODY is listening!
- GenresPicture Books
32 pages, Paperback
Published May 13, 2021
5 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Knapman
211 books31 followersTimothy Knapman has written many books for children, including Mungo and the Picture Book Pirates, Dinosaurs in the Supermarket and Eleanor's Eyebrows. He also writes plays and co-writes musicals.
Timothy Knapman is available in a range of colours, and is washable.
Timothy Knapman is available in a range of colours, and is washable.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 4, 2021
Book Reviewed on www.whisperingstories.com
Down in Australia the animals all rushed out to play in the summer sun, but not long into their playtime a nasty, horrible, disgusting smell surrounded them and turned the air sour. One of them had had a bottom burp and they each accused one another of being the stinker, but who could it be?
From reading the very short blurb for this book I knew it was going to be funny, I mean what child doesn’t find someone making a smell funny, add into the mix a load of random animals all accusing each other of being the culprit and you have a very humorous book.
I can see some of the parents out there getting a little hot under the collar about the word ‘fart’ being used, as I know many don’t allow their children to use that word, and when my children were little I didn’t either. If I’m honest my kids are 15, 18, and 24 and I still tell them to use a different word because I hate it. However, the book still made me laugh. If your children are too young to read then you could change the word for something you don’t mind.
Thunder Down Under is illustrated with full-page, colourful, bright images. The text changes throughout in size, boldness, how it is written, but this brings the story alive. I love the ending and the little nugget of wisdom that is shared.
Depending on how you feel about farts in books you will either love it or hate it. I can see children loving it and giggling the whole way through.
Down in Australia the animals all rushed out to play in the summer sun, but not long into their playtime a nasty, horrible, disgusting smell surrounded them and turned the air sour. One of them had had a bottom burp and they each accused one another of being the stinker, but who could it be?
From reading the very short blurb for this book I knew it was going to be funny, I mean what child doesn’t find someone making a smell funny, add into the mix a load of random animals all accusing each other of being the culprit and you have a very humorous book.
I can see some of the parents out there getting a little hot under the collar about the word ‘fart’ being used, as I know many don’t allow their children to use that word, and when my children were little I didn’t either. If I’m honest my kids are 15, 18, and 24 and I still tell them to use a different word because I hate it. However, the book still made me laugh. If your children are too young to read then you could change the word for something you don’t mind.
Thunder Down Under is illustrated with full-page, colourful, bright images. The text changes throughout in size, boldness, how it is written, but this brings the story alive. I love the ending and the little nugget of wisdom that is shared.
Depending on how you feel about farts in books you will either love it or hate it. I can see children loving it and giggling the whole way through.
November 12, 2021
A fun book about farts, animals, and to not overlook someone who is small.
I read this book in Dutch (with a fantastic title: Wie liet daar zijn billen trillen) but decided to share this fart-tastic book with my English readers as well.
In this hilarious book we see a horde of animals being happy that they can finally have some fun. But in their rush they forget to see what is on the ground, a small animal. Who is SO DONE with the big animals not noticing him. The next moment a BRAAAP a SLURP a POOOOOOOTT and more sounds come by along with a big green cloud and I was completely in stitches. OMG, what a fart. And I knew instantly who it was. I would have so done the same. XD
Sadly, after that fantastic opener it went downhill a bit. The animals argue among themselves over who it could be and ignore the little dude down on the floor (despite him trying with all his might to get animals to notice him). While I wasn’t a fan of the arguing and the repetitiveness of the little guy being ignored… I did love all the fart terminology that popped up during the arguments. There is truly a lot of ways to say someone has farted or that fart could only come from x animal.
The ending, OH BOY, I was laughing. Go go! I would have also trumpeted with my butt! If that is what it takes!
The art was pretty nicely done, I especially loved the animals faces during the farts. XD
All in all, I had fun reading this one and would recommend it.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I read this book in Dutch (with a fantastic title: Wie liet daar zijn billen trillen) but decided to share this fart-tastic book with my English readers as well.
In this hilarious book we see a horde of animals being happy that they can finally have some fun. But in their rush they forget to see what is on the ground, a small animal. Who is SO DONE with the big animals not noticing him. The next moment a BRAAAP a SLURP a POOOOOOOTT and more sounds come by along with a big green cloud and I was completely in stitches. OMG, what a fart. And I knew instantly who it was. I would have so done the same. XD
Sadly, after that fantastic opener it went downhill a bit. The animals argue among themselves over who it could be and ignore the little dude down on the floor (despite him trying with all his might to get animals to notice him). While I wasn’t a fan of the arguing and the repetitiveness of the little guy being ignored… I did love all the fart terminology that popped up during the arguments. There is truly a lot of ways to say someone has farted or that fart could only come from x animal.
The ending, OH BOY, I was laughing. Go go! I would have also trumpeted with my butt! If that is what it takes!
The art was pretty nicely done, I especially loved the animals faces during the farts. XD
All in all, I had fun reading this one and would recommend it.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
January 14, 2026
𝕎𝕚𝕖 𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕥 𝕕𝕒𝕒𝕣 𝕫𝕚𝕛𝕟 𝕓𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟 𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟?
Een erg leuk en grappig boek vond één van de leerlingen uit mijn klas.
Tijdens het lezen lag ik ook inderdaad helemaal dubbel, ik niet alleen maar de klas ook.
Wie liet daar zijn billen trillen? Is geschreven door @timothymknapman, geïllustreerd door Steve James en uitgegeven door @veltmanboekenenmeer
Er is een hele dikke scheet gelaten in het boek. Een harde stinkende scheet. Iedereen begint door elkaar te praten en elkaar te beschuldigen. De kleine Numbat weet heel goed wie de scheet heeft gelaten, maar alle grote dieren willen niet naar hem luisteren. Ze blijven elkaar maar beschuldigingen, tot er weer een harde stinkende scheet gelaten wordt. De dieren besluiten dan toch maar naar de kleine Numbat te luisteren.
Het boek is geschreven op rijm. De kinderen in mijn klas konden het juiste rijmwoord precies invullen, wanneer ik stopte met lezen. Boeken op rijm doen het altijd goed in de klas.
Ook zit er nog een wijze les in het boek🤣:
𝐷𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑎𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑚 𝑔𝑎𝑎𝑡, 𝑖𝑠
- 𝑯𝒆𝒃 𝒋𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏? -
𝐽𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑒 𝑘𝑙𝑒𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑚 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑛.
Een erg leuk en grappig boek vond één van de leerlingen uit mijn klas.
Tijdens het lezen lag ik ook inderdaad helemaal dubbel, ik niet alleen maar de klas ook.
Wie liet daar zijn billen trillen? Is geschreven door @timothymknapman, geïllustreerd door Steve James en uitgegeven door @veltmanboekenenmeer
Er is een hele dikke scheet gelaten in het boek. Een harde stinkende scheet. Iedereen begint door elkaar te praten en elkaar te beschuldigen. De kleine Numbat weet heel goed wie de scheet heeft gelaten, maar alle grote dieren willen niet naar hem luisteren. Ze blijven elkaar maar beschuldigingen, tot er weer een harde stinkende scheet gelaten wordt. De dieren besluiten dan toch maar naar de kleine Numbat te luisteren.
Het boek is geschreven op rijm. De kinderen in mijn klas konden het juiste rijmwoord precies invullen, wanneer ik stopte met lezen. Boeken op rijm doen het altijd goed in de klas.
Ook zit er nog een wijze les in het boek🤣:
𝐷𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑎𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑚 𝑔𝑎𝑎𝑡, 𝑖𝑠
- 𝑯𝒆𝒃 𝒋𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏? -
𝐽𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑒 𝑘𝑙𝑒𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑚 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑛.
June 19, 2021
This is a very funny story. If you think you know all the different ways to say 'fart' then think again.
As well as having a funny story where animals are trying to work out who farted, it also has a message about not ignoring someone because they are small.
As well as having a funny story where animals are trying to work out who farted, it also has a message about not ignoring someone because they are small.
June 27, 2021
Super cute and funny! Love all the Aussie animals, and the hilarious ‘fart’ related expressions, but most importantly … the moral of the story.
September 9, 2022
This book is about Australian animals. They all bicker and accuse each other of the bad smell and in the end they find out it was the numbat who farted.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews