Customer Reviews

Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

What a fun book! My son is 11 months old, and I've been singing to him since he was an infant, usually made-up songs. When I saw this book I thought it would give us a whole new batch of songs to sing, and it HAS!!! My baby loves these, and when I sing them to him he just laughs and laughs, and I laugh - I can't help it. They are hysterical!

...Some of the images are gross in a harmless way (a food fight, a dirty bedroom) but the songs are very appropriate for small children, and lots of fun for the Mama and Daddy singing them, too. My husband says he found himself singing "Brother Mitch" the other day at work!!!

This book is terrific. If you have a sense of humor, and you sing to your babies, this makes a good addition to your book collection.

The illustrations are fantastic. The lyrics are even better. What more can I say? It really is a great book and my daughter loves it. I'd like to see a CD with these songs (and more); the accompanying sound track would be hilarious. If you like to sing to your kids and have a great sense of humor, make sure this is on your list of books to buy.

I am an elementary music teacher and absolutely LOVE this book and it's sequel. We pull it out on those days right before a break or a holiday when the kids can't focus and just want to have fun. We sing the real song, such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and then sing the twisted version: "Stinky, Stinky, Diaper Change." The kids laugh at the more slapstick humor, but I grin at the more subtle wit. Forget the age 4-8 listing. I have 6th grade boys that love these songs, and the classes can't wait to see the outlandish pictures after we've sung the song. They gasp and squeal even when they already know what's coming. I'm buying a second copy, because after 3 years of dragging the first one along during fire drills, loaning it out over weekends, and having eager kids flipping through to find their favorite song, mine is worn out. The kids are writing their own "silly dilly" song-lyrics to get their name put into a drawing to win the old copy. :-)

I bought this for one reason - to share with my youngest son and to show him that even the most favorite tunes can be turned inside out and upside down, lending a new perspective to the familiar.
And yes, as some other reviewers have noted, the humor is of the "gross-out" variety...but let's face it...life is sometimes a bit weird. And who knows this better than kids? So while the original nursery rhymes were mostly full of charm and a light spirit, these may be truer to the truth that kids see in the world. And once you sing Take me Out of the Bathtub to the tune of Take me Out to the Ball Game, you may never be able to get the new lyrics out of your head:
"Take me out of the bathtub
Take me out of the tub
I've been soaking since half past two
I feel so sudsy and wrinkle-y too..."

I'm 33 years old, but I still remember trying to make up words to well-known tunes with my friends. Yes, what we came up with was often off-color, but *that's what kids like*! The reviewers who called this potty-humor are way too uptight in my opinion. Guess what folks, your kids are going to make this stuff up in school, but will not be able to share it with you, their stuffy old parents. I'd much rather share this natural, fun experience with my kids, and have great memories of it. We sit on the couch and sing at the top of our lungs, laugh 'til we ache and love every minute of it. If someone is unsure about the lyrics of this book, that's what the sample pages are for. If you can read them and not chuckle, then you have no business getting it. But I think most of you will laugh out loud and bring this delightful book into your homes.

To the tune of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, sing: Take me out of the bathtub/Take me out of the suds/I've been here soaking since half past two/I feel so sudsy and wrinkle-y, too.... This is the first of the silly dilly songs in this silly dilly book by Alan Katz with illustrations by David Catrow (see my review of I'm Still Here in the Bathtub, April 11, 2005). TMOOTB is wonderful fun. I like I've Been Cleaning Up My Bedroom, sung to I've Been Working on the Railroad. Then there's Stinky, Stinky Diaper Change to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and so on. Do you (or anyone in your family) get carsick? Then you'll love I'm So Carsick, sung to the tune of Oh, Susanna.

Catrow's illustrations are a hoot and a half! The combination of the words and pictures is sure to tickle your funnybone. With two young boys in our family, each with one of these books and a very vivid imagination, we frequently have a new set of words to one or another of the tunes in this hilarious book. I highly recommend it. Makes a great gift.

Carolyn Rowe Hill

My six year old swears this is the greatest book of all time. He carries it around with him begging family members to sing along with him. At night we peek in to find him under his covers with a flashlight singing "Stinky, Stinky Diaper Change" and others. We like this book, but even more, we love how he loves it.

My household is a musical one - we can be heard making up songs all the time... one of our favorites is "Nature Girl" or "Nature Boy" depending whether my daughter or son is freshly out of the tub and running around only in "nature's finest"... the song "Nature Girl" is sung to the tune of "Baby Face".... And with all the energy of the era of THAT song!

I loved singing these songs on the first read - from "The Yogurt Flies Straight from My Brother" to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" to "I've Been Cleaning Up My Bedroom" to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and "Stinky Stinky Diaper Change' to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Read, laugh, sing, laugh, hug your kids, laugh. You will all love this one!

I liked this book so much that it has become a staple gift to give 4 year-olds. I have gotten nothing but rave reviews from both kids and parents. Everyone enjoys the pictures, and agrees that the author is just brilliant to come up with these great songs to tunes we all know so well. I can hardly wait to get the next one!

My 3 year old loves this book, and begs me to sing the songs to him over and over. I get a kick out of the songs as well as the pictures. Once you know the "new" lyrics, just try to hear the original versions any other way.