When I mentioned this book on Chapter 12 of our podcast I decided to write a light hearted blog post about Once Upon a Potty and maybe share an embarrassing picture of me with this book actively potty training – I said it was embarrassing. Librarian, Kristy Isett, described Once Upon a Potty by Alona Frankel in 2009 for the Huntington Daily News as “a book on toilet training to help the child better understand the process; to encourage and motivate him or her to make the developmental leap from diaper to potty.” What I didn’t know was that the author, Alona Frankel had an incredibly hard upbringing in Poland during World War II.
Once Upon a Potty has consistently been added to recommendation lists for teaching kids to be potty trained since its publication in 1984. Heck, I have recently bought replacement copies (both the boy and girl versions) for my library’s collection because they always end up looking just as well loved as my family’s copy at home. In 2014, the Clute Facts named the book a right of passage for motherhood by saying you know you’re a mother when “your child insists that you read ‘Once Upon a Potty’ out loud in the doctor’s waiting room and you do it.”
What captured me as a child wasn’t so much the riveting writing in the book, but the sweet and colorful illustrations (also done by Frankel) that reminded me of It’s a Small World. I tried to remember what I was thinking about when I would repeatedly request my mom read this book to me (including every word on the “and sat” page). I remember feeling really proud of myself when I had the success that Prudence did when she finally correctly used her training potty – which is likely why I had this book in my bedtime rotation before bed.
This book has been a mainstay on library shelves as well, in 1986, the title was mentioned in the Frederick News Post as one for “parents to share with their children” at the library. Alona Frankel originally created this book for her own son to help him with his potty training journey. It was first published in 1975 in Hebrew before it was translated into different languages and sold all over the world in both boy and girl versions.
In my research for this post, I ran across another book written by Frankel called Girl: My Childhood and the Second World War. This is a memoir about her growing up in the midst of Nazi invaded Poland. As a Jewish child, her family worked hard to hide her away from the Nazis. Rather than going to school, Frankel taught herself to read, write, and draw as she lived among farm animals during her seclusion in the name of safety. I look forward to reading this book and one day sharing Once Upon a Potty with a little one learning this important life skill.
Sibling Library 