An informative and entertaining info-dump.
Welcome to wild nature’s poop parade.
Published in Belgium and the Netherlands and translated from Dutch, this work details some of the many ways animals make and make use of their excretions. Capped by Meij’s labeled display of representative pellets and piles, dozens of naturalistically rendered creatures pose with their splatters or splashes next to De Volder’s sometimes giddy commentary. The animals are grouped by habitat and practice—for instance, marine wildlife with “strange toilet rituals” or forest dwellers that use their waste to send a message to others. The author repeatedly notes that poop spreads and nourishes plant life and that some animals use droppings for food or defense as well as waste elimination—facts that may be familiar to animal lovers. But even budding scatologists may be gobsmacked to learn that kestrels can spot the ultraviolet emanations in mouse urine from above, that coral snakes can produce startling “bang farts” when threatened, or that lobsters entice prospective mates with aromatic “love pee.” Creatures aren’t always drawn to scale; still, there are nuggets aplenty of solid biology for readers attracted by the crowd-pleasing topic.
An informative and entertaining info-dump. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798890632999
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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