The Scoop on Poop

Want to go on a poop hunt? Grab your coat and let’s go see if we can find some poop. Maybe we’ll get lucky and our scat dog will find tiger poop or rhino poop or even whale poop?

Yes, filled with plenty of pictures of poop ranging from the prehistoric human poop to the globs floating in the ocean waters, this is a fact-filled, fascinating and gloriously gross informational text that explores every second grade boys favorite topic in a scientific way.

Do they really find prehistoric human poop? Real poop? What do they do with it? Why do they want to put glitter in rhino poop? It’s amazing what you’re about to discover about scientists and the power of poop.

Many of the photographs feature women veterinarians and scientists at work. An index, a list of science words (glossary) and a science lab feature round out the fun for readers who want to dig a little deeper into the world of poop.

This is going to be a reluctant reader favorite. This one series may turn the library into these children’s favorite place on Earth.

Ever since our school district adopted a new curriculum, one school’s fifth grade classes comes to me in the fall for materials for their inquiry projects. I usually start with a list of anywhere from 20-50 subjects and then work with the teachers and students to narrow them down as needed. Certain topics show up regularly – mythology, space, a variety of famous figures both old and new, animals, and World War II. But every year I get a few new subjects (one of my favorites was “frozen bodies” later narrowed down to cryogenics. That’s a fifth grader with imagination!) and this year a lot of kids asked for… books about poop! For which I take sole responsibility, since I booktalked all my animal feces books to them at their last library visit! The call went forth for More Poop Books and Bearport has answered the call with a new series, “The Scoop on Poop.”

I received one title, Poop Cures, for review and it does not disappoint. There are photos of feces under the microscope and historic cures involving poop. Lest you think the days of poop as medicine has passed, the book cheerfully informs you of cures in World War II for dysentery involving fresh camel poop (get it while it’s hot!). The story doesn’t end there – every kid needs to know the whys and wherefores of fecal transplants right? Of course they do! And this book delivers with an explanation of bacteria and the nitty-gritty of fecal transplants and poop pills.

Back matter includes an activity to design your own (imaginary) poop cure and a picture glossary, index, and further suggested reading. This series includes six titles; Building with Poop, Poop detectives, Poop eaters, Poop power, and Poop’s many uses.

Verdict: Kids don’t get tired of the gross and icky and this new series mixes science with some classic gross-out information and a touch of humor. A must-have for any library with elementary school students.

This study, one of six in the certain-to-be-popular Scoop on Poop series, begins with the cecotropes that little fuzzy bunnies excrete and then eat, and ends with a truly memorable photo of pooping whales. In between, Lawrence explains why certain animals eat poop: rodents and cassowaries to give nutrients a second pass through their digestive systems, baby elephants to add helpful digestive bacteria from a parent, dung beetles to feed themselves and their offspring, and leopard tortoises to supplement a calcium-poor diet with the ground-up bones in hyena stool. Anatomical diagrams join big, bright, labeled color photos to provide cogent visuals. A closing activity (requiring only paper and colored pencils!) reinforces the theme that it’s all part of nature’s food chain. Science education of the alimentary sort, with large helpings of “gross!”