S kip to the L ou

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

S kip to the L oo, My Darling!

For a fun activity after reading Skip to the Loo, sing along to the song!

B unny wants his potty.

What will Bunny do?
Only one thing for it . . .

Chorus:

Verse 2:

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,

Cows in the cornfield,

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,

Whatll I do?

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,

Cows in the cornfield,

Skip to my Lou, my darlin.

Whatll I do?

A Potty Book

by

Whatll I do?

Flys in the buttermilk,

Skip to my Lou, my darlin.

Shoo, fly, shoo,

(Chorus)

illustrated by

Anita Jeram

On sale March 8, 2016 $11.99 ($11.99 CAN) ISBN: 978-0-7636-7234-8 32 pages Ages 25
Sally Lloyd-Joness riotous narration
and Anita Jerams endearing
illustrations make this
a charming and energetic invitation
to potty trainees everywhere.

Cows in the cornfield,

Verse 1:

Sally Lloyd-Jones

Bunny wants his potty. What will Bunny

do? Only one thing for it . . . skip to the

Flys in the buttermilk,

loo! Bunnys not the only one skipping to

Shoo, fly, shoo,

Verse 3:

Flys in the buttermilk,

Theres a little red wagon,

Shoo, fly, shoo,

Paint it blue

With rollicking rhythm, Sally Lloyd-

Skip to my Lou, my darlin.

Theres a little red wagon,

Jones gets the party going in a book

(Chorus)

Paint it blue

the loo. Look who else wants their potty!

Quite a few. . . .

that simply rejoices in the call of nature.

Everyone is invited to celebratefrom

Theres a little red wagon,

a lonely dodo to Wibbly Woo, from Lord

Paint it blue

and Lady Huff-Puff to an elephant in a

tutu. But when the party is in full swing

Skip to the Lou, my darlin.

and everyones on their potty, Bunny

sees that someone very important is
missing. Who could it be?

Illustrations copyright 2015 by Anita Jeram

Q& A with author Sally Lloyd-Jones

How did you come to write Skip to the Loo?
Being a Brit, potty humor is not much of a stretch for me. But one day it struck
me about the rhyme Skip to My Lou that I didnt really understand this my lou
business: Was lou a song? A person? A place? I started thinking it would be so much
better and would make much more sense, if it was spelled loo. Then I imagined
everyone skipping and I was off.

Did you use any real-life inspiration for the book?

I was around tiny tots who didnt want their potty. And so in some ways that was
playing into it. I wanted to see if I could make it more fun and funny for them. Because
after all, who doesnt need the loo?

The text has such a wonderful rhythm, and of course the title brings to
mind the song Skip to My Lou. Did you listen to any music while you were
writing the book?
I do write to music quite often. But not on this one. With rhyme I like to write as I walk
because it helps me to get the rhythm right. And of course I am in good company in
that regard, because Wordsworth did exactly the same thing. (Although I am not so
certain he wrote about the loo. He limited himself to daffodils.)

What is your favorite part of Skip to the Loo? Do you have a favorite
character?
I have to say that theyre all my favorites, because I dont want to leave anyone out.
But, if you promise not to tell the rest of the characters, then yes, I am partial to
Ballerina Elephantand I do definitely have a soft spot for Wibbly Woo. But truthfully
my absolute favorite part? That Anita Jeram did the pictures. Im the luckiest author
alive.

About the Creators

Sally Lloyd-Jones is the author of the New York
Times best-selling book How to Be a Baby . . . by
Me, the Big Sister, illustrated by Sue Heap, and
its sequels, How to Get Married . . . by Me, the
Bride and How to Get a Job . . . by Me, the Boss.
On her work as a childrens author, she says,
I get to have the best job in the worldwriting
stories. And I get to work for the best bosses in
the worldchildren. I am very grateful. Born in
Kampala, Uganda, and raised in East and West
Africa, she moved from the U.K. to the U.S. in
1989 for just a year. Shes still here. Sally LloydJones lives in New York City.

Q& A with illustrator Anita Jeram

Tell us a little about your artistic process.
For this text, my initial drawings were quite big, in crayon and pencil. I had to scale
everything down when I realized how many characters needed to fit on the pages.
Getting a monster, a dinosaur, and a chicken on a page together was a challenge!

What parts of the book were the most fun to illustrate?

I enjoyed putting all the characters together on the potty party spreads. The little
bugs were fun, too.

What did you use for inspiration for your artwork in Skip to the Loo?
The babies in my family are all grown up now, so this was all from imagination and
memory. I like the big old decorative china potties you can sometimes see in antique
shops.
One of the characters I couldnt work out was Wibbly Woo. Until my daughter drew a
picture of a cockatoo in an eggshell. Brilliant!

Anita Jeram is best known for her illustrations

for the picture book Guess How Much I Love You,
by Sam McBratney, which was short-listed for
the 1994 Kurt Maschler Award and is now one of
the worlds best-selling picture books. A native
of Portsmouth, England, Anita studied art at
Manchester Polytechnic and published her first
book for children while she was still a student.
Today, she lives in Northern Ireland with her
family and a menagerie of pets.

I owe her.

There are many cuddly animals and fantastical creatures in Skip to the
Loo. If you could be any animal from the story, which one would you be?
Id be the piglet with red roller skates. I loved my red roller skates when I was little.

We heard that youve had many wonderful pets! Do you have any funny
potty-training stories that involve them? What are the differences between
potty training toddlers and pets?
Potty training toddlers and toilet training puppies is not too difficult. I wish I could
potty train my three pet tortoises. They are the messiest creatures Ive ever known.

If you could skip to the loo, would you?

Anything else youd like to add about Skip to the Loo?

I really dont know what you mean. I always skip. Why? Dont you?
(Why would you walk when you can skip?)

I like the title of this book, but I couldnt help singing the song in my head whenever
I was drawing. Drove me a little bit potty!