Everybody Poos

Review also includes:

The Holes in Your Nose, Genichiro Yagyu, 978-0711220454

Here are two truly exciting early science books. They provide just the right amount of information using an inviting text and playful pictures. Above all they have a clear focus: in each case they tune into children’s fascination with their bodily functions.

Everybody Poos – for children between about three to five years – is direct, earthy and entertaining. It uses everyday language to explore concepts of similarity and difference. All animals excrete but the size and shape of what they produce varies. So we have a picture of a huge elephant with a large turd and a tiny mouse with its miniature droppings. Eating and excreting are clearly linked: a child and some animals are shown tucking into their food and when we turn the page there they all are, as the book says, ‘pooing’.

The Holes in Your Nose, more detailed for slightly older children of about five to seven years, has an equally down-to-earth approach. Straight to the point text and delightfully quirky pictures show how the holes in our noses help us breathe and speak. The main text is large and bold while smaller lighter print indicates what people and animals say – ‘Ugh! Please use a handkerchief next time!’ The introduction of more challenging words – ‘connected’, ‘moisture’, ‘nostril’ and mucous’ – and the simple but effective diagrams make this a good precursor of later science books. One diagram shows how dirt and mucous combine to make ‘bogies’ while another is a helpfully annotated cross section of a child’s nose and mouth. In short, these books would be an excellent addition to any early years non-fiction collection.