Reviews

PreS-Gr 1-- Well yes, they do, but does anyone really need an entire book on the subject? In this Japanese import, readers are informed on page one that ``an elephant makes a big poop, a mouse makes a tiny poop.'' Later on, they are told that it comes in different shapes, colors, and smells, and that, depending on who is doing it, it is done in different places. The summarizing statement is that ``all living things eat, so everyone poops.'' However, there is never any explanation offered as to why. Overall, the text is merely a series of rather dull pictures of back ends of people on toilets and animals, with captions identifying them and occasionally posing questions such as ``What does a whale's poop look like?'' (No answer is provided.) There is even a little joke: ``A one hump camel makes a one hump poop. And a two hump camel makes a two hump poop. Just kidding.'' I wish I were. --Denise L. Moll, Lone Pine Elementary School, West Bloomfield, MI

Okay, so everyone does it--does everyone have to talk about it? True, kids at a certain stage of development may find the subject riveting--but their parents may well not want to read to them about it. Here we learn that birds do it, bees do it, kids with bended knees do it. We are told about big poop and little poop, animals that poop while moving and animals that poop from a stationary position, why and where people poop--in short, we get the scoop on poop. The pictures, far from Gomi's best work, leave nothing to the imagination either. In case the message hasn't sunk in, the final spread presents a chorus line of creatures, backsides forward, each producing poop. Call it what you will, by euphemism or by expletive, poop by any name seems an unsuitable picture book subject--a view not helped by this artless presentation. Ages 18 mos.-4 yrs. (Mar.)