The Princess and the Potty by Wendy Cheyette Lewison.

Illustrated by Rick Brown. 33 p., Simon & Schuster, 1994.

A little princess refuses to use her potty because it "doesn't please" her. Her parents try fancy potties, singing and reading to her, making sure she has company, and sitting on the potties themselves, but nothing motivates the princess. A royal wise man tells them that she'll use the potty when she wants to. What finally motivates her is getting "pantalettes" like her mother's. When she has these, she'd rather use the potty, because if she put on a diaper, she'd have to take the pantalettes off. A limitation is that the king and queen are depicted as worrying about what the neighbors will say about the princess's refusal to use the potty. The gently humorous illustrations depict the princess's facial expressions particularly well. Children who don't want to use the potty can find empathy in this story. If they are struggling with issues around who has control, this story can help them to realize that choosing to use the potty can actually be an active choice on their part.

Ages: 2-5
Cultural Context: multicultural