BATTLE OF THE BUTTS: The Science Behind Animal Behinds-- A Nonfiction Picture Book Review and Author Interview

BATTLE OF THE BUTTS (Running Press, 2021) by Jocelyn Rish with illustrations by David Creighton-Pester, is really about a battle to determine which animal has the best buttocks of all. As Jocelyn tells her young readers in the introduction:

You're the judge in the Battle of the Butts. As you meet each challenger in this battle and learn about their posterior power, it's up to you to rate them:

• Terrific Tushie
• Remarkable Rump
• Cool Caboose
• Passable Posterior
• Boring Backside

What kid can resist being a judge--particularly a judge of animals' backsides?!

With that intriguing set-up, Jocelyn begins this fact-filled and incredibly kid-friendly book. 

REVIEW

Two spreads are dedicated to each of the ten challengers" posteriors: the "Pudgy Posterior" A.K.A. the Manatee; the "Tough Toushie A.K.A. the Wombat; the "Bum Breather" A.K.A. the Fitzroy River Turtle; the "Toot Talker" A.K.A. the Herring; the "Cannon Caboose" A.K.A. the Bombardier Beetle, the "Projectile Pooper" A.K.A. the Silver-Spotted Skipper Caterpillar; the "Fatal Farter" A.K.A The Beaded Lacewing; the "Beach Bum" A.K.A. the Parrotfish; the "Two-headed Tooter" A.K.A. the Sonoran Coral Snake; and the "The Hotel Hiney" A.K.A. The Sea Cucumber. 

(Clearly, Jocelyn has too much time on her hands if all she is doing is sitting around thinking up amazing alliterations!)

The Manatee's Posterior Power

The book begins with the manatee (which by the way, I had the pleasure of swimming with a few years ago. Unfortunately, the water was a little murky so I didn't get to observe their "posterior power" -- they swim using farts!).

Besides that important piece of information, In the "Extra Booty" section I also learned that manatees' intestines are as long as a bowling alley (65 feet) and as wide as a dollar bill (6 inches in diameter). But wait--there's more! 

Butt Bonus: When manatees are unable to poop because they're constipated, they lose buoyancy control and float with their tails higher than the rest of their bodies. Once they are finally able to poop again, they will let out a massive fart and are then able to swim normally.

I know... you've been waiting all your life to know that about manatees, right?

The Wombat's Posterior Power

Jocelyn's research took her far and wide. In the process she found the Australian wombat. You'll never guess what their posterior power is so I'll let you in on a secret---their butts are shields that protect themselves and destroy their enemies! 

If a predator manages to push its head into the entrance, the wombat uses its strong legs to slam its butt against the predator's head. Wham! It crushes the predator's skull against the roof the burrow, killing it. That's one deadly derrière!

 

Not only that, but according to the "Butt Bonus," wombat poop is shaped like cubes. They mark their territory on rocks and logs and the square shape stops the pellets from rolling onto the ground. Pretty amazing, huh?

Whether you want to read more about a turtle who breathes through his butt; herring who communicate through farts ("Bluurp! Hey dude, you're too close to my left, move over a few inches); or the beetle that deploys a chemical poison from his "super soaker butt"--than this is the book for you! Parents, caretakers, teachers--you all will love introducing your pre-school through second grader to these crazily cool creatures. (Uh oh, Jocelyn! Your alliteration is contagious!)

The book ends with a challenge to the kid judges and a glossary highlighting unfamiliar words. Kudos also to artist David Creighton Pester for his clever and colorful illustrations. 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

In this interview Jocelyn not only shares what's coming up next, but her (very early!) inspiration for writing BUTTS.

CAROL: “Why butts?” Why did you think of this idea in the first place?

JOCELYN: I'm not sure if I should admit this, but I have a pretty terrible Twitter habit. Late one night when I should have been doing something productive (like sleeping!), I was mindlessly scrolling Twitter when I saw an adorable graphic of a manatee that said, “Manatees can control their buoyancy through an endless cycle of farting. There. That’s a thing you know now.” I didn't think that could possibly be true, so I googled, and it was! The best part is the google search also brought up articles about other animals that do weird things with their tushies. From that night of learning funny fanny facts, BATTLE OF THE BUTTS was born!

The picture that started it all.
FUN FACT: Jocelyn has been enamored with manatees since she was a kid.

CAROL: How did you pick these ten animals? 

JOCELYN: As I discovered there were other animals out there with remarkable rumps, I started googling things like: "animals with weird butts" and "funny butt abilities" and other silly terms like that. As new animals came up in searches, I added them to my notes. Then I researched each animal further in scientific journals to separate fact from internet legend. When it came time to decide on the final ten animals, I tried to pick a variety of scientific classifications, with different types of booty abilities, and a mix of water and land (there are five of each). But I still have plenty of animals with funky fannies available to make BATTLE OF THE BUTTS NUMBER 2. 😆

CAROL: I love the judging format. How did you come up with that?

 

JOCELYN: Thank you! As I read about the various fanny facts, I envisioned the animals on stage showing off their tushie talents reality show style, like America’s Got Talent or American Idol. I started playing around with titles like Butts Got Talent or Butt Idol, but those didn’t feel right. When I hit on the alliteration of BATTLE OF THE BUTTS, I immediately knew that was the title. So then I started thinking, if it’s a battle, then there has to be a winner, and if there’s a winner, there should be judges – and of course the kids will be the judges! From there, it was just a matter of hitting up the thesaurus to come up with fun names for each judging category. 

CAROL: The language is very kid-friendly.  Did it take many drafts to get in all the lovely alliteration?  Did you have any kid beta-readers? 

 

JOCELYN: I’m so glad you think so! It was important to me that along with the funny butt facts that the book also be fun to read out loud. I’m actually an alliteration aficionado (probably too much so!), so it kind of comes naturally as I write. I found lists online of synonyms for butts, farts, and poop (there are a shocking number of alternate potty words!) and kept those beside my thesaurus as I wrote my first draft. Then I sent it to my critique partners, and from their feedback, I did some tightening and tweaking. At that point, I felt ready to query, so it was really only two drafts. 

 

My cousin’s son loves animals and nature, so he read it for me and found an issue where I said poisonous rather than venomous when talking about the snake, so that was a great catch (Thanks, Colton!). I also read it with my Reading Partners student, having him mark places that made him laugh and places he didn’t understand. That was very helpful for adding words to the glossary. 

 

CAROL: How has the book been received? Are schools using it? Do you have plans for online curriculum guides? 

 

JOCELYN: Friends and even strangers on social media have been so sweet about sending me videos of their kids reading BUTTS and giggling. One little girl was laughing so hard she fell over sideways on the couch, which totally made my day. So I think kids are enjoying it like I hoped. 

 

I participated in World Read Aloud Day with ten schools last month and had such a blast reading with the kids. They asked such insightful questions. And I’m reading with eight more schools next week for Read Across America Day – I can’t wait! I’d love to have a curriculum guide, but I’ll definitely have to outsource that. It’s on my To Do list! 

CAROL: What awards have you won?

 

For BATTLE OF THE BUTTS, I was thrilled that the Missouri Association of School Librarians included BUTTS on their 2022 Dogwood Book List for Nonfiction.

 

As for non-BUTTS awards, I’ve been fortunate to win several like the 2020 Book Pipeline YA Unpublished Contest, the 2013 SCBWI WIP Grant for Contemporary Novel for Young People, and the 2009 Highlights Fiction contest. 

It’s because of that last one that I first met you because my prize was tuition to the Highlights Chautauqua summer session! 

This picture popped up in Jocelyn's FB feed.
I'd forgotten we were there together!

 

CAROL: What’s next?

 

The illustrator David Creighton-Pester is currently working his magic again on BATTLE OF THE BRAINS, which is scheduled for release on Nov 8, 2022. It’s about ten animals with mind-blowing brain abilities.

 

And I’ve pitch my agent and editor several ideas for a third BATTLE book, so fingers crossed. Also, I was inspired by Tara Lazar’s Storystorm with several fiction ideas, one of which I’m currently scribbling about in my notebook. I hope it shapes into something creepy and fun!

 

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

No giveaway this time.  I hope my grandkids laugh themselves off the sofa when I read them this book! Congratulations to Joan Edwards who won The View from the Very Best House in Town and to Donna Johnson for winning I Want My Book Back. 

Introducing Jocelyn Rish: SCBWI WIP Grant Winner!

Congratulations to Susan Light, a librarian at Christianburg High School in Virginia. She was randomly selected out of 20 participants (a record for my blog) and won the ARC of A Prisoner of Night and Fog. Thanks to all of you who tweeted and shared this giveaway and welcome to seven new followers.  More giveaways to come later this year!

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When I read in the SCBWI Bulletin that a fellow Carolinas member had won the WIP Grant for a Contemporary Novel for Young People I shot her an email begging her to share her experiences. She happily obliged. Without out further ado, here is Jocelyn! 

Jocelyn's $2000 check bought her a spiffy new
computer that is making her writing life much easier. 

First, if anyone wants to read about my reaction when I found out I won, it’s here. I encourage everyone to apply for the grant. The application is relatively painless, so even if you don’t think you have a chance (and I really, really didn’t think I did) you should go for it. Unexpectedly wonderful things might happen for you, too!

Tell us about your WIP. Give me your pitch! How long have you been working on it, what inspired you to write it.

THE DRAMA QUEEN WHO CRIED WOLF was my 2007 NaNoWriMo novel and was inspired by my 18^th birthday party. My three best friends and I had birthdays within days of each other, so we had a huge video scavenger hunt party, for which my dad made up crazy and embarrassing tasks for us to film. I wanted to capture that experience on the page but knew there needed to be higher stakes, so I framed a murder mystery around it. Then I put the novel in a drawer for several years while I worked on my short films, but I pulled it back out for major revisions about a year ago.

Here’s the latest pitch I’ve been toying around with: Sixteen-year-old Breanna loves horror movies and mysteries, but, unfortunately, her overactive imagination turns every situation into a big-screen thriller starring Brea. Since no one believes her when she discovers a body that disappears, it’s up to her to suit up CSI-style in yellow kitchen gloves and solve the murder herself.

Had you entered the SCBWI WIP grant contest before? If so, what did you do differently this time?

I’d entered with this same novel at least two times before, however, this time I really dug deep with understanding the feedback I’d received from readers and applying that insight into my rewrite. It mostly had to do with deepening the characterization of the MC and making her more sympathetic, as well as streamlining the pacing.

Who read your submission before you sent it? What advice did they offer? Do you think that helped you?

I didn’t ask anyone to read my application before I sent it, but over the years the first chapter has been read by many people: at conferences, workshops, critiques from authors via online contests, critique partners, family and friends. Really at this point it’s more like who hasn’t read the first chapter? I kept getting feedback that the inner monologue of my MC was really funny, but it was slowing down the pace. It took me a while before I really heard it and was able to kill so many of my darlings. I loved the humor, so it was hard to cut much of it to really focus on the pace and creepiness of the first chapter, but I’m sure finally getting to that point made all the difference.

What tips would you give this year's applicants? 

For writing in general: find knowledgeable critique partners and really think about and absorb their feedback. You don’t have to take all their advice, but burrow into the root of what they say isn’t working and figure out how to fix it while maintaining your vision and voice.

Specifically for the application: keep the Bio and Plans for Grant Money sections short and sweet. In my earlier applications, I wrote a lot feeling like I needed to sell myself and justify what I’d do with the money, but this last time I kept it snappy – just the facts with a little bit of humor. I don’t know if that affected the outcome or if it was just the changes to my first chapter, but I did want to mention that difference from my earlier applications compared to the successful one.

What did you learn in the process of creating your submission?

I’m not really sure, but I will say, having been rejected in the past, I was a lot less stressed when I put together my packet this year. I don’t want to imply I slapped it together because that’s not true, but I didn’t freak out over every.single.word like I’ve done in the past. So maybe being more relaxed allowed my best work to shine.

You mentioned querying as your next step - I assume your ms. is now complete?

Since winning the grant, my manuscript has been through a major tear-down-build-back-up revision, and then another minor revision based on feedback from several amazing CP's [critique partners]. So I finally took the plunge and started querying. It was a terrifying step but one we all have to take if we want to find the right home for our novels. All my fingers and toes are crossed tight hoping for a positive outcome.

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Thanks Jocelyn, for your encouraging story! I have applied at least twice, but based on Jocelyn's advise I plan to give it another try. I have found that the process of applying for the grant strengthens my work. 

Note: If you live in the Carolinas, the deadline for the Carolinas Writing Contest is February 28, so get going! 

What's stopping you?