Customer Reviews

Fartiste

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Fartiste", by Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer, is based on the life of a real man named Joseph Pujol. The cover refers to this book as "an explosively funny, mostly true story".

Young Joseph was an eight-year-old French boy when he first discovered his unusual talent. He learned that he could take air into his backside and then make a variety of hilarious sounds when he released it.

When Joseph was older, he was hired at the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris. The crowd went crazy when he got on the stage and started farting. He could sneeze, make animal sounds and blast off like dynamite. He could even perform Beethoven and Mozart! People laughed so hard that nurses were stationed in the aisles to assist people who passed out.

There is an Encore at the end of the book that gives additional biographical information about Joseph Pujol. There is also a list of Sources for students who want to search for more information about this unusual performer.

There are a few words in the book that will send most readers to a dictionary. I was stumped when I read the word "discombobulated".

This book will make history come alive and leave your children absolutely cracking up. They say that truth is stranger than fiction - this book is a great example.

Another one of those bathroom humor stories, but with a very cute theme. It can be enjoyed by everyone.

Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer's FARTISTE: AN EXPLOSIVELY FUNNY, MOSTLY TRUE STORY tells of the artist Joe the Fartiste, who takes the stage at Paris' Moulin Rouge to perform his fart art for royalty. Boris Kulikov's bright and fun art illustrates this 'mostly true' story for ages 5-8.

Just about the time I was starting to think "This is such an absurd concept! This would never happen!" I remembered that it was based on a true story. For this story is about a man who has an uncanny ability to control his toots! And, frankly, why not capitalize on this talent? ;)

I definitely feel this book is more of a "classy" gassy book. Instead of inserting the "fart" word anywhere and everywhere "just because," the selection of flatulent words were specifically chosen and with a delightful literary array.

The illustrations were quite fitting and aided in the telling of the tale. And what really bumped this book up, in my opinion, was the fact that it was also a rhyming book! And, for the most part, about 90% of the time, the rhymes flowed and clipped along without me stumbling over them (something few rhyming books actually do).

All in all, it was loads of fun (for any age!).

"At long last he used a skill no one had;

In public, on stage, he farted. Egad!

Fashioning music out of the air,

Blasting out tunes from his one derriere.

One day a baker with butter and yeast,

And the next--voila!--he was JOE, the Fartiste."

This is the story of Joseph Pujol, born in Marseille, France in 1857. When he was eight years old, he discovered that he could control the muscles of his intestines. With practice, he could take air into his sphincter and release it in all manner of sounds! At first, this just provided amusement to himself and his friends and family (especially his children!) but with a growing family and his meager baker's salary, Pujol decided to take his toot-tastic artistry to a new level and went to the Moulin Rouge, in Paris, to perform. Soon, word of his fabulous abilities spread and even King Leopold II of Belgium made a point of seeing a performance! American Inventor Thomas Edison even filmed a few seconds of the show for the 1900 Paris Exhibition.

I really wished I could have seen Le Petomane, translated to "Fartomaniac" or "Fartiste", perform after I read this book! I'm sure it would have been such a riot and I'm not sure anyone has come along since with this rare talent!!! The story is amusing and engaging in itself told in pleasant rhyme and with engaging illustrations, at once showing historic detail while also being funny, but the fact that it is true and that Krull so skillfully wove in other historic persons (such as Sarah Bernhardt) into the story (and provided such an informative Author's Note) bumps this up to five stars for me. After reading the abysmal "Walter the Farting Dog", I wished that there was a better "fart book" out there and "Farstiste" delivers! :-D

"I can truthfully say that I have never seen [people] laugh, cry, shout and scream as they did when this little man with his... deadpan face pretended to be unaware of his incongruities." -- eyewitness at a Moulin Rouge performace of "Le Petomane" in 1895.

My daughter-in-law read aloud to our entire family reunion get-together this book during an evening of laughter, grandchildren performing for us all, and more! All of us laughed from beginning to end of this book - then to learn it was (for the most part:) true. Since then 2 more of us have ordered this book from Amazon. Loved it!