Whale in the Bathtub

PreS-Gr 2—Bruno has a "whale" of a problem lying in his bathtub: a demanding, self-absorbed blue whale who prefers warm bath water to the ocean and would rather have krill-scented bubble bath than Bruno's bubble-gum scented one. Each time the boy attempts to take his bath, the whale hogs the tub and kicks Bruno out to contend with his skeptical parents and siblings, who cannot fathom such a ludicrous whale tale at bath time. Just as he is about to get into even worse trouble, Bruno's big new friend comes up with a king-size idea to give him the best kind of cleaning—all with the splash of his tail. Jellett's quirky, retro illustrations present an untidy-looking Bruno with scribbly red cheeks and scraggly hair, suiting the delightful absurdity of the story perfectly. The whale is presented in parts, rather than whole: initially with a single eye and mouth, next with a massive flipper, and altogether just oddly distorted. This clearly demonstrates that whales are simply too big to fit entirely in any bathtub. Younger children will appreciate what it means to present implausible obstacles at bath time, while older ones might ponder the more practical matter of how much bigger a standard-size whale is compared to a typical tub.