Quarter Finalist
Assessment:
Plot: Anyone whose butt can talk is bound to have some awkward moments, and ten-year-old George Smith is no exception. In this fun romp of a rumpy tale, George’s unexciting life changes radically when one day his butt asks him to change the TV channel. Unfortunately, his talking butt seems to everyone else just to be farting, with the normal odiferous accompaniment.
Prose/Style: The sentence structure and vocabulary make this a fun read for the middle school crowd, people about the same age as George, but they are perhaps not as interested in butts as four- to six-year-olds, so this story, with its simply line illustrations, would probably work well as a book adults would read to preschool or early elementary school kids.
Originality: The concept of the story is unusual, and it is exploited to its full range of possibilities, putting George and his talking butt in myriad ridiculous – and sometimes irritating, such as when George, out in the woods with no nearby bathroom, wipes his butt with poison ivy leaves – situations.
Character Development/Execution: George has a little brother, younger twin sisters and parents who are way more patient with their son’s errant butt than seems normal. But everyone, including Butt, stays true to character.
Blurb: J.L. Frankel has taken young children’s fascination with butts on a joyride that the four- to eight-year-old cohort will undoubtedly find endlessly hilarious.
Date Submitted: July 12, 2021
The Misadventures of George and the Talking Butt: The Beginning by J. L. Frankel is as silly as it sounds. George is just your average 10-year-old boy who happens to have a talking butt. Unfortunately, George is the only one that can understand his butt, and if his butt gets excited or starts to talk loudly, to everyone else it sounds like a fart. George's butt gets him into all kinds of trouble, in school, in restaurants, and even with his friends and family. George's butt has a personality all of its own. He's not fond of roller coasters and bikes, but he loves ice cream and baths. George and his talking butt are just getting started.
The Misadventures of George and the Talking Butt will entertain many elementary school kids. Kids who enjoy Captain Underpants and the Wimpy Kid series will love this book. As a former children's librarian, I was always searching for books that reluctant readers would get excited about and this is one that I would have recommended. Sometimes all you want to do is read a funny story and laugh out loud. The black and white illustrations that appear throughout the book break up the chapters nicely, and George is recognizable with his piece of hair that sticks up in the back. J. L. Frankel has written this book with the help of his nine-year-old daughter, so the kid humor is spot on. Misadventures of George and the Talking Butt: The Beginning is one of those books that kids will recommend to each other.
For Immediate Release
May 3, 2021
Husband and wife writing team announces the publication of their first book: The Misadventures of George and the Talking Butt: The Beginning
A hilarious middle-grade children’s book about a boy with a talking butt, imagined by a nine-year old girl and her father
Cincinnati— May 3, 2021 — Bradley and Brooke Books, the new self-publishing husband and wife duo of Joshua and Lindsay Frankel, is excited to announce the publication of their first children’s book, ‘The MisAdventures of George and the Talking Butt: The Beginning.’ It is the first in a three-part planned series of stories about a boy who discovers that his butt can talk to him.
The hilariously illustrated collection of stories follows George as he navigates life with his new sidekick behind him. Thanks to his talking butt, George’s life just became a little more complicated and a whole lot funnier.
The idea for the book originated as a bedtime story for the couple’s young daughter. “I have a hard time falling asleep at night, so my dad tells me funny stories,” explained 9-year-old Leila Frankel. “One night last year we made up a character about a boy who farted a lot but he heard it as a voice, and my dad turned that into the George stories.”
It soon became a family affair. “Joshua would fill me in afterwards about the story he told Leila that night, and they were really funny. Eventually I told him he had to start recording them so we could remember them, and I went out and bought an audio recorder,” said Lindsay Frankel. “Once he started recording the stories, I turned them into a book to give our kids that they could one day show their own kids.”
Eventually, the Frankels realized that what they were writing was universally appealing to all kids. After all, what kid doesn’t like a funny story about butts and farts? They just launched a kickstarter campaign with the goal of raising enough funds to print the book and market it to bookstores in the hopes of sharing their silly story and bringing smiles and laughter to kids everywhere. The book is currently in the formatting stage and should be ready for printing and distribution by early June, if not sooner. Once published, ‘The Misadventures of George and the Talking Butt’ eBook and Paperback will be made available for sale virtually everywhere books are sold. To receive an early copy or help fund the campaign, please visit https://tinyurl.com/4ahc6yfy
For more information:
Lindsay Frankel
845-893-4871
bradleyandbrookebooks@gmail.com
www.georgeandthetalkingbutt.com
