Publisher Description

The fifth title in Babette Cole's bestselling series of 'family dilemmas'Girls and boys are always curious and sometimes even alarmed by the behaviour of their bodies as they grow up. Puberty being a particularly unsettling time, Babette Cole has made this the subject of the fifth title in her bestselling series of 'family dilemmas'. Who else but Babette would have the temerity to tackle this subject in a picture book and the genius to carry it off! In Hair in Funny Places her artwork is without exaggeration some of the best she has ever done- it is brilliant. The text takes the form of a conversation between a small girl and her teddy bear, and is ingenious and funny. It is the behaviour of Mr and Mrs Hormone (wonderfully depicted) which is responsible for and plays havoc with the physical and emotional states of girls and boys throughout puberty. This book is bound to be controversial but Babette has never taken the conventional path and her readers love her for her outrageous approach to little mentioned topics.

Notes

This is the fifth title in Babette Cole's funny, informative series of books about family/personal dilemmas for children. This one is about the effect on pubescent bodies of "Mr and Mrs Hormone"! Readership level: 5 - 7 years. Colour illus.

Back Cover

Ted has seen many children grow up. In his wise but wildly funny way he explains how Mr and Mrs Hormone mix their outrageous potions that turn children into adults...with the best results of course!

Author Biography

Babette Cole was born in Jersey in the Channel Islands. She graduated from Canterbury College of Art in 1973 and was the illustrator and author of more than 150 witty, imaginative, irreverent and thought-provoking picture books for children including the bestselling, stereotype-defying Princess Smartypants. She produced animated storyboards for the BBC and illustrated numerous greetings cards and books by other authors as well as her own. Babette adored the countryside and was a keen horse rider and breeder. She spent much of her life in Lincolnshire, before moving to Kent and then westward through Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

Review

Classic picture book dealing with puberty * Sunday Express *

Promotional

The fifth title in Babette Cole's bestselling series of 'family dilemmas'

Kirkus US Review

A child asks her teddy bear about growing up and gets an earful in this wildly irreverent look at puberty. Its all the work of Mr. and Mrs. Hormone (and their ratlike dog), the teddy explains, who concoct potions that give children bosoms, pimples, hair in new places, radical mood swings, and ultimately the urge and ability to make babies. Depicting the Hormones as hairy monsters bearing gleefully malevolent expressions, Cole (Bad Habits!, 1999, etc.) tracks male and female physical changes in a pair of unclothed, skinny-limbed teenagers. Though many books, starting with Robie H. Harriss Its Perfectly Normal (1994), cover the territory in less ghoulish fashion, here at least readers will get some basic information, plus the idea that certain rough patches on the road to adulthood are survivable. (Picture book/nonfiction. 10-14) (Kirkus Reviews)

Review Text

Classic picture book dealing with puberty

Review Quote

"Babette Cole is as batty, rebellious and strange as her creations... funny, unrestrained and totally unforgettable." Independent on Sunday

Promotional "Headline"

The fifth title in Babette Cole's bestselling series of 'family dilemmas'

Details