There is a video I like watching about a little girl with some big sass. She is dancing as only a 7-and-younger-old can (so, not so hot, but dang if she’s not having fun), wearing her pink princess dress and she says, “Excuse me, I farted” Off camera you may or may not hear a comment, but loud and clear our gal says, “I said excuse me…ballerines fart too you know!”
Well, I guess she is not the one that needs to know the information in the book Girls Fart! by Jayme Mattler and illustrator Lisa Lefringhouse then. She already knows that we gals know how to pass the time and the gas. We are ripe for that illustrious right of passage that can be smelly, silent, deadly and even makes the dog leave the room. It puts winds in our sails and it can happen to anyone: moms (who won’t let grandma get away with the title statement), the swamp explorer, and even grandmas (who started the whole stink about girls not doing the deed).
What really captured my attention was how light hearted everything was. There are no facts about flatulence, but there is a dad reading about peri-menopause. There is a protest with the girls and boys willingly failing their etiquette exams for their cause. There are hidden jokes within the images. Some are subtle like the dad reading, but others are pretty obvious (a nice sign with a nice rhyme). The colors are popping, the colors rocking. The actual style of things is cartoonish, but that keeps the fun elements. As an adult reading and viewing them, pay attention as one or two gems might sneak up on you. 
Now, obviously this book is about farts. No ifs ands or butts about it. So if you’re not a fart person (well technically all mammals, but the sloth, are fart people, we’re just not fart people), you won’t like this book. However, I was a lover of this clever use of the “girls do This, not That” attitude, and a just funny story about all the ways we can pass ladylike gas.
Read via an online reader copy, due later in January 2027.
