Presented in the format of your favorite game-show, Butt or Face is a (loosely) scientific non-fiction title for children which provides as much taboo humor as it does educational insight.

Printed in an array of captivating and true-to-life colors, each section begins with a cropped photo of an animal’s face…or butt, as the title implies. On the following pages, readers are rewarded not only with the proper answer but a photo of the animal in its full form. Additionally, each solution features a paragraph and two genuinely fascinating truths, taking the title from obnoxious to insightful without ever crossing into the pandering or monotonous territories which similar concepts often fall prey.

In our personal experience, the cropped photos provided endless amusement as our household of five deliberated and reasoned through fits of laughter before turning the page to learn who answered correctly. Spanning a wide range of species (including insects, mammals, amphibians, and more), each child’s interest was piqued on multiple occasions. Encouraged by the text, they discussed the animals’ unique traits and defense tactics and felt emboldened to ask for further resources in order to learn more. For those familiar with elementary-aged attention spans and interests, Butt or Face is an easy choice for parents, guardians, and educators looking to endue scientific facts through a light-hearted approach.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Kids for this title in exchange for an honest review.

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This book is very clever. It will interest kids and entice them. The photos are detailed and whether they represent a face or a behind will often be hard to know, leaving plenty of room for guesses. What I like about this title is that there is more to it than guessing. Kids will learn more about each featured photo in the detailed text. There is a lot of scientific information here.

Adults who want to intrigue an elementary school aged child with some science learning this summer, get this one. It is surprising, fun and educational.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Kids for this title. All opinions are my own.

Note that over 100 NetGalley reviewers so far have given this title a five star review.

I received an electronic ARC from SOURCEBOOKS Kids through NetGalley.
Lavelle challenges readers to decide whether the animal photos show that animal's face or bottom. These small photos need to be studied carefully and may not offer a clear idea. The next pages provide information on the animal including a full picture, brief facts, location, and, of course, whether the small photo was part of their butt or their face. The author chose a wide variety of animals to include so readers will find one they recognize and/or want to learn more about.
Terrific read together option to lead into further research.

This book was so fun! I read it too my 4yo and she immediately demand we restart it as soon as we finished. I learned lots too!

Elementary kids love to read about butts, farts, and poop, so this unique look at the behinds of many animals will be a big hit. It goes lightly into details about the animals, but could be a good jumping off point for further research for upper elementary students. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC.

3.5/5 stars (rounded up to 4) - I would have liked to see a bit more info about the animals.

I've never recommended this before but I think you should read the author's note at the end of the book before you read the story. Kari Lavelle's inspiration for writing this fun and educational tale added a new dimension to the knowledge found inside. Great for the entire family!

As someone whose job was to read to children and keep their interest, I am now always checking out fun books for the kids even though I have left the job, it's become second nature to me. This one was a fun non-fiction read and great if you are teaching about different animals - especially the weird and wacky ones to the children. This book has on various pages, a single picture of either an animal's butt or its face, and then the children have to guess what part of the body it is. Then on the following page is a picture of the animal and the location of the body part, I have to admit in parts there were bits when I was confused as really, it could have been both or either or. Also on the pages next to the animals are fun facts about them. This book is great for children aged 7-10 years and a book that is not only great for learning but also for having fun. Who said reading had to be a boring activity ??? Not me, for sure.

This book is a lot of fun and educational at the same time. It's a quick and easy read and my kids love it. They can't wait for it to come out so we can have the physical copies. It's quite entertaining to look at the pictures and guess what each picture is and then learn about what the picture is after guessing. It was delightful to share in reading this with my daughters and hear them giggling as we read and looked at this book and learned about the animals.
I would highly recommend this. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Sourcebook Kids for letting me read and review this enjoyable and educational read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Butt of Face? was engaging for all four of my children. The kids range from 5-16 years old and everyone, including myself, enjoyed guessing if it was a butt or a face. We got A LOT wrong!! This was a great family book because everyone was able to guess and we could laugh at and with one another when we were wrong.

Thank you to Karo Lavelle, SOURCEBOOKS Kids, and NetGalley for allowing myself and my son the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Non-fiction picture book that shows a picture of either a butt or face and invites readers to guess which it is. Provides information about the animal on the following page.

This book reminded me a lot of Jess Keating's world of weird animals series. Lavelle picked a fun and unique topic to write about - is it an animal's butt or face. It really highlighted some of the different adaptations animals have and helped to showcase exactly how weird and wonderful nature can be. While I may have liked to have a little additional information about the different animals, the bite size bits of information (and topic) will be great for reluctant readers. Highly recommend!

This book is going to become a go to gift for very kiddo I know. We were laughing so hard while reading it that we could barely breathe! Some of our favorites, most bizarre animals are in here - like the star nosed mole - but we were introduced to many more! Bravo for this this context that’s so creative and spot on for the audience. Extra points for the cute author photo in the back!

I thought that this was a lovely book and it was lots of fun!

The book was well laid out and I read it with my 5 year old daughter (or rather she read it to me) and it was easy for her to follow

The images were great, we loved guessing what they were and we weren’t always right! And there was a cheeky one in there too…!!

It is 5 stars from us for this one, loved that it was interactive and fun – very highly recommended!

What an absolutely adorable little book to teach adults and children about the animal world (I definitely learned a lot from this book too as an adult!) Perfect length and very scientific, but simple enough for children to understand. Highly recommended and will definitely suggest this for purchase for my library!

Absolutely delightful little book to teach adults and children about the animal world (—I mostly didn’t know if it was a face or butt, either). Perfect length, too, and very scientific. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Sourcebooks Explore for the DRC.

Funny and educational twist, on learning about animals and insects. I enjoyed the guessing aspect and the facts that were provided.

Thank you, Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Kids, for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Butt or Face? What a good question! I will look forward to recommending this fun and informative book to our young readers at the library!

What a hilarious concept. This is such a fun way to engage kids in learning about animals. Some of the images really are challenging to guess, and the reveal is a lot of fun.
I love the facts that are included about each animal, they are presented in such a fun way.
I also love the map at the end of the book that provides a great visual of the all the animal locations on a single page.

Thank you net galley for the advance copy, I will be picking up a hard copy for my son once it is released!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for providing me with an advanced readers copy.

Butt or Face? is an extremely fun, informative book for elementary age children. It's pretty self-explanatory - look at an image of an animal and decide if it's a butt or face. My two boys (ages 7 and 12) LOVED this book! Not only is it fun to giggle about butts, but my boys were super competitive trying to figure out - are we looking at a butt? Or a face? There were even a few that stumped me.

We laughed through the entire book, while learning some cool, new knowledge about interesting animals. The author did a great job with how much information to include about each animal so that my younger reader didn't lose interest before moving on to the next animal. My seven year old loved the book so much, he asked to read it again the following night.

My 6-year-old daughter loved this book. She loved guessing face or butt and learning about new animals that she did not know before. I would definitely recommend this to other parents whose kids have animals.

I don’t know why this was recommended to me but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Would highly recommend to any child or adult who likes butts. Not to be weird.