Petula, Who Wouldn't Take a Bath

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Petula Priscilla McDill will not take a bath. No matter what her mother
says, Petula always finds some excuse to dodge the suds. The happy
little girl is just having too much fun to give a thought to the growing
layers of grime on her skin. Soon Petula becomes so dirty that her
mother warns if she doesn’t take a bath, vegetables will start growing
on her. Like all frightful parental premonitions, this one comes true.
Petula wakes up the next morning with a carrot growing out of her ear.
Next potatoes start sprouting between her toes. But even after
artichokes, tomatoes, onions and ten rows of peas take root on her, she
still refuses to take a bath. To her mother’s horror it looks like
Petula will never take another bath; but then the neighbors start
picking on her.

Linda Bailey has created a character so outrageous that Petula is
irresistible to readers of all ages. The story is told in razor-sharp
rhyming couplets and matched jab for jab by Jackie Snider’s
side-splitting illustrations. Highly recommended.