Self-help books are incredibly popular in America.

Children's books are, too.So, it was only a matter of time until publishers began cashing in on "self-help books for children."

While browsing through Sam Weller's Zion Book the other day, I came across dozens of the things. Some featured the standard topics: sadness, death, divorce ("Dinosaurs Get a Divorce" was especially quirky). One book is bound to be a big hit with kids: "The Young People's Guide to Understanding Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder."

A great idea. A horrible title. I can hear my son saying, "Hey, that's all I want for Christmas."

Some other kiddie self-helpers, however, featured themes only a child could love. The traumas and trials kids go through are often taken lightly by adults; but if you believe psychologists, a child's anxieties can get pretty grim.

How else to explain all those books written for 2-year-olds; books written to help them through the vale of tears called potty training?

If you remember, Sigmund Freud was the one who put so much emphasis on potty training. He figured when a child learned to use the potty, a mother became so elated over not having to deal with dirty diapers she praised and rewarded the child way beyond reason. If the kid had a lapse, however, punishment could be severe.

And that praise and disdain gets ingrained in a youngster's brain forever.

Whether or not that's true, several publishers must think there's something to this potty training business. There's a full run of books to prove it.

You want photos? You get dozens of photos - crisp, sharp photos - in "Your New Potty" by Joanna Cole. This is documentary proof that potty training actually does take place. It's not a myth. Still, I have to think if the experience is indeed traumatic for a child, showing him these photos would be like showing photographs of spiders to some guy with arachnophobia.

I prefer the illustrated books. "Once Upon a Potty" by Alma Frankel, for instance. Now there's a classic. The only problem is it's the story of a young boy trying to figure out what a "potty" is exactly. He wears it as a hat for awhile, then tries to feed the cats out of it, turns it into a birdbath.

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Now, I have children. And I know - as you do - that if a kid sees another kid running around with a "potty" on his head, that's what he's going to do. I'm sorry, but this volume is nothing more than a series of disasters just waiting to happen. They may as well publish a book called "Freddie Does Frightening Things to the Furniture."

No, the award for best potty book - in this august reviewer's humble opinion - goes to "I Want My Potty" by Tony Ross. In this one, a little princess is so spoiled that her temper and tantrums eventually turn her from spoiled into soiled.

I like that. A morality tale.

Nevertheless, keep watching this space. If a better potty book comes along, you'll here about it here first. I guarantee it.

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