Poop Cures

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.