Review: The Bum Drum Conundrum

Tonight, T picked out another book we had received in some #bookpost what seems like quite a while ago – The Bum Drum Conundrum written by Melanie Proulx & Ashley Lanni and illustrated by Amelia Hart.

The story centres around a young girl called Malina. Malina loves playing at the park with her friends but one day notices the park seems very quiet. Eventually, she tracks her friends down to a field where they are playing a new game called Bum Drum. This is sort of like tig but involves drumming someone’s bum when you catch them.

Malina succumbs to peer pressure and joins in despite reservations and before long she is upset and heading home. When the next week comes around she chats with her mum who explains that she must say no to things she doesn’t want to do. Despite being afraid, she does this and in the process helps her friends to learn about consent.

Whilst this isn’t the most exciting of stories, it does cover a challenging topic in a clear and child-friendly way. Great if this is a lesson you want/need to teach. The realistic illustrations are appropriate given the subject matter. T did seem to take away some of the key points, although he did express a desire to play the Bum Drum game!

You can get a copy of tonight’s story via the link below…