Girls and boys are always curious and sometimes even alarmed by the behaviour of their bodies as they grow up. Puberty being a particularly unsettling time, Babette Cole has made this the subject of the fifth title in her bestselling series of 'family dilemmas'. Who else but Babette would have the temerity to tackle this subject in a picture book and the genius to carry it off! In "Hair in Funny Places" her artwork is without exaggeration some of the best she has ever done: it is brilliant. The text takes the form of a conversation between a small girl and her teddy bear, and is ingenious and funny. It is the behaviour of Mr and Mrs Hormone (wonderfully depicted) which is responsible for and plays havoc with the physical and emotional states of girls and boys throughout puberty. This book is bound to be controversial but Babette has never taken the conventional path and her readers love her for her outrageous approach to little mentioned topics.

I really didn't care for the illustrations in this book, and the way it was written was actually mildly annoying (Mr. and Mrs. Hormone are hairy little monsters who are angry about being woken up, so they mix their potions and basically create havoc in a kid's body). Didn't seem like a super positive approach to puberty. ( )

Hair in Funny places does a good job and describing the inevitable occurences of puberty and natural maturing of children. Although I would not include such aa text in a classroom library, I believe it could be a great resource for parents or guardians to use to approach the subject with children. ( )

Hair in Funny Places is a cute and comedic approach to explaining puberty. Cole uses colorful pictures and text to reach her readers. The main idea of this informational picture book is to describe bodily changes in a simplistic way. ( )

I enjoyed reading this book. Especially since it is something that in the United States would be seen as negative. I like how open the book was about puberty and what happens. For example it states, "your mom sprouted bosoms and hair in funny places." This is showing a nude picture of the mom with bosoms and hair in funny places. It's very direct and open. I also liked how it was written in second person with the use of "you." I felt like this brought the reader into the story and helped them to connect with what was going on. I think the big message of this is everyone goes through puberty! ( )