Sam's Potty

Our three little boys (twins aged 5, and a 2-year-old) absolutely love the Sam books. Sam's Potty is one of their favourites. The illustrations are appealing and retro, and the text is engaging and easy enough for the 5-year-olds to read themselves, aloud to their younger brother. Sam's Potty is one of their favourites. They love the attempts of Sam to get his dog to sit on the potty instead of him. My 2-year-old, particularly, finds this funny; he loves dogs and seems to sense the irony of Sam's failed attempts, and his final conquest of the potty by himself, not Doggy. The simplicity of the text lends itself to memorising, and my 2-year-old often sits and "reads" the Sam books aloud to himself. I was surprised to read negative reviews of these books, and can only conclude that their realism is probably more appealing to Europeans; Americans don't appear to care for them. A shame - a good dose of simple reality is so refreshing in children's books nowadays.

we keep this book along with the other sam books we have next to the potty. it is simple, lightweight and the pages are more durable than some other books of the same size. we love the story, perfect for potty time.

My son really enjoys this book at the age of two and a half. He really likes repeating the short sentences and gets a huge sense of satisfaction from understanding the simple concepts presented. He also mimics the poses of the main character with great aplomb. The book is short (and expensive!) but has lots of positive ideas and words. I personally didn't think it was a great book in execution or content - but I am not the target audience and as I said, my son loves it.

These books are great for your littlest ones! The text in the Sam books are very simple, as they ought to be for very young children, but can easily be elaborated on by the adult reading aloud to little ones. I don't agree with the previous reviewer who found the pictures "rough and unengaging" - unengaging is the farthest description I could personally think of! The facial expressions are wonderful, and the pictures carry so much meaning and action in themselves, and they are tailored to very young children - the perspective stays the same, proportions are right etc so that little ones can easily understand the pictures and follow the events there. In all their simplicity, these are brilliant little books, with just the right dose of adventure and fun in familiar settings for the youngest readers. On a side note, the Sam books created a stir when they were first published in Sweden close to 20 years ago. They were written in "kids' speak", just the way our little ones speak, which some people protested against and claimed proper sentences were needed. Barbro Lindgren's answer was to publish the next one still written in kids' speak - with "translations" into proper adult language at the bottom of the page! The English versions are however written in proper sentences. All in all, these books are great for starting a life-time love of reading.

In this episode, Sam is a bit ambivalent about using the potty, until there is competition for it from his doggie. The authors have an unusual ability to create humorous situations that can be comprehended and appreciated by the under 3 set.