There is no hiding the popularity, especially among small boys, of jokes about flatulence …er, gas … um, breaking wind, probably because grown-ups are so disapproving.

Fart jokes everywhere are usually accompanied by sniggers and giggles and thought to be “not very nice”, which almost certainly causes their popularity amongst small boys.   However, as for books on such subjects, it must be admitted Paul Jennings and Andy Griffith have done very, very well out of stories that parents find disgusting.  And Burping Baby was an episode in the ACTF's acclaimed Lift Off TV series, while its book version glories in the library subject heading: Flatulence - juvenile fiction. 

But it is not a style of writing that you would normally associate with respected teenage novelist Victor Kelleher.  Terry Denton, yes!  Expect the unexpected in any of the books he illustrates – half the fun is following the jokes he hides around the pages.  But Victor Kelleher writes serious novels and wins prizes!

Billy the Baked Bean Kid is Kelleher and Denton’s first cooperative venture and it is, quite simply, a picture book fart joke.  Billy loves baked beans, Billy eats too many, Billy swells and swells and swells with the result, everyone tries to achieve a release, and it happens … spectacularly!

There is not much more to the story, though Terry Denton’s illustrations take the background details on a bit of a wander through the weird and wonderful.  You have to wonder how Victor Kelleher was talked into doing this book.  It is light and breezy (sorry!) and fun, and it will be loved by the fart joke experts.  But they are a limited group, and grown-ups will disapprove!

Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that!

Review by David Beagley

© 2002 David Beagley