Ages 5-8. If the scare tactics here don't get kids to clean up, nothing will. Using an invitation to a party as a spur, the book outlines personal hygiene, including cleaning fingernails (kids are told nails harbor more harmful germs and bacteria than a toilet seat), brushing teeth ("smell that doggy breath!"), and washing and brushing hair (dandruff and lice are unflinchingly discussed). How animals clean themselves (children will learn that only sloths need to be dirty) makes an amusing counterpoint throughout. Kids find out that African oxpeckers eat the earwax of zebras, and a Komodo dragon's nails are so filthy that a single scratch from them is deadly. The illustrations, crowded with happy kids sprucing up, are bright and lively, keeping the book from becoming too didactic. A glossary of useful words is appended. Connie FletcherCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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