Matthew G. Sherwin, Amazon Hall of Fame reviewer, gives this 5 out of 5 stars!
“Don’t Stick Sticks Up Your Nose! Don’t Stuff Stuff In Your Ears!” is an excellent book for toddlers and small children alike who are learning that all important lesson that we shouldn’t put things like buttons and chopsticks in our ears or noses! I really like how Jerald S. Altman, MD and Richard Jacobson use rhyme, one of my very favorite ways of writing for small kids, to communicate with them through this book. The illustrations are absolutely wonderful and charming, too! Moreover, grownups can happily bond with small kids as they read this book together and that’s grand. The vocabularies of young kids will also be enhanced as they read this and that makes this book even more special to them! At the start the authors write a clever (and most sincere, I’m sure) type of dedication to “Every Parent, Grandparent, Babysitter, Doctor, Nurse, Medical Assistant, Medical Technician, Friend Or Stranger Who Has Had To Deal With A Scary Nasal Or Aural Insertion By A Misguided Or Confused Child. (And the authors) Hope This (Book) Dissuades A Few Of Them.” And from there the actual book begins: They write of how breakfast should go into your mouth (as opposed to your ears and noses) adding “No bacon in your ears, No fried eggs up your nose. Even though it’s tempting, That’s not where breakfast goes.” I love it! The authors go on to teach much, much more to young kids through this book: For example, that noses are reserved for smelling things rather than inserting things like sticks into them and that putting “stuff in your ears” “can cause such problems” that kids wouldn’t want to do that by any means! The authors also let kids know that the result of putting things like buttons or bread into their ears and noses will probably result in discomfort, out and out pain “Like sharp thorns on a rose” and a somewhat unpleasant visit to the doctor which is a potent warning since small kids don’t like to go to the doctor (and even many big kids, this one included, don’t like to go to doctors either)! The authors go on to add more, mentioning how putting things into your ears and nose that don’t belong there “may bring your Mom to tears” and they encourage young kids to avoid putting pencils and crayons in their ears and noses as well. Of course, there’s a bit more to the rhyming story than this but I’ll stop here to avoid spoiling it all for you. Suffice it to say that toddlers and young kids alike will learn a valuable lesson as they read this very fine book that is written with such love for them as the authors gently but firmly warn them of the fact that it is not desirable to put things in ears and noses that simply don’t belong there. I highly recommend this fine children’s book by Jerald S. Altman, MD and Richard Jacobson; they have put out an excellent book that teaches kids such an important lesson in a way that won’t make them want to rebel and do what they’re being told not to do in this book. I love it! Dr. Altman and Richard Jacobson, please keep these outstanding children’s books coming—we need people like you releasing such exceptional books for small kids!