POOP FOR BREAKFAST

Why is it that some animals eat poop but we find it gross?

Using a variety of examples, the author illustrates that coprophagy, the consumption of feces, is not uncommon among animals—and that poop eaters have good reasons for this seemingly disgusting habit. The main narrative is simple enough for fledgling readers, while explanatory text boxes on each spread add more specific information for more advanced readers. Animals eat, or at least engage with, feces to strengthen their eggs, to clean their babies’ nests, to encourage their young to pee and poop themselves, or even as part of their digestive process. For dung beetles, it’s their diet, and for our own pets…who knows? Maybe they just like the taste! Cheerful cartoon animals slurp puddles of poop, carry fecal sacks (depicted as white tied bundles), lick their babies’ backsides, and seem to enjoy a variety of poop pellets. Stylized humans with varying skin tones and hair colors, however, turn up their noses no matter how it’s served. We don’t eat poop because our bodies don’t need it; indeed, it might make us sick. Levine knows how to grab young readers’ attention and explain science topics simply but effectively. And while Weiser’s illustrations are entertaining, they’re also enlightening—her digestive system diagrams are particularly edifying. There’s even more information about the subject in the backmatter, pictures for aspiring “poop detectives,” and plenty of poopy words.

Irresistible science.