Children's books about poop, pee, and puke

Hi there.

Yesterday and today is my Superbowl at work — that is, annually, a live event with approximately 1,284 moving parts, which is 100% my responsibility, occurs over two days in May, and today is day two, and no doubt it is going amazingly well because it always does, even when something slips sideways behind the scenes and I have to smile publicly and tap dance my way out of it (this year in three-inch gold heels, yes, MA’AM 🌟🪩)

Maybe it’s a great day to publish a post on poop, pee, and puke, for levity? (I hope I am doing exactly none of those things unless it’s of my own volition.)

You, meanwhile: in case no one has told you lately: you are doing so much better than you think you are. For just a minute, look in the mirror and see yourself through the eyes of the people who love you, who think you are f*cking awesome. (I promised my late grandmother more than once that I would stop swearing in this newsletter and look at me exercising exceptional self-control and doing! it!)

🪞Do you see how brilliant and beautiful you are?

Don’t accept crumbs from absolutely anyone. Don’t stop being you. And whatever you do, don’t give up before the miracle.

And if you get covered in any of the things below, literally or metaphorically: well, wipe it all off, put on your gold heels, and keep dancing.

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Mini issue: poop, pee, and puke

Listen, I get it: some of us might not like how fascinated our children are by the various solids, liquids, gases, and combinations thereof that come out of human bodies. Some of us might get tired of endlessly discussing it and joking about it and bringing it up during totally inappropriate times — not that that has ever happened to me, nor have the words I NEED A BREAK FROM POTTY TALK, NOW! ever erupted from my mouth in deep frustration.

But I have long been a proponent of a) reading things my kids enjoy and b) anything, and I mean anything, that makes my children laugh out loud.

(There is also that toddler phase where some littles are afraid to poop, and plenty of grown adults experience emetophobia, the fear of vomiting, so aside from the delights of being gross and funny, sometimes these titles can help solve actual problems.)

And honestly, even though I don’t want to talk about it all the time, I find these subjects pretty fascinating, too. (Highly recommend Mary Roach’s 2022 book, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, for grownups.)

So here’s a small but, uh, powerful booklist if your kiddos also enjoy this topic, or you’re trying to learn to enjoy it alongside them 😉

Poop

• Get the Scoop on Animal Poop: From Lions to Tapeworms, 251 Cool Facts About Scat, Frass, Dung and More by Dawn Cusick

• Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable by Nicola Davies

• Poop! by Beatriz Giménez de Ory

• Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi

• Loos, Poos, and Number Twos: A Disgusting Journey Through the Bowels of History by Peter Hepplewhite

• What Do They Do With All That Poo? by Jane Kurtz

• Where Does My Poo Go? by Jo Lindley

• The Poop Song by Eric Litwin

• Where’s the Poop? by Julie Markes

• Who Gives a Poop? Surprising Science From One End to the Other by Heather Montgomery

• The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazelgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem by Colleen Paeff

• The Scoop on Poop! by Mary Platt

• Poop and Puke Eaters of the Animal World by Jody Sullivan Rake

• Dung for Dinner: A Stomach-churning Look at the Animal Poop, Pee, Vomit, and Secretions That People Have Eaten (And Often Still Do!) by Christine Virnig

• You Wouldn’t Want to Live Without Poop! by Alex Woolf

Pee

• The Wee Book of Pee by Kelly Regan Barnhill

• Gee Whiz! It’s All About Pee by Susan Goodman

• Oh No, Gotta Go! by Susan Middleton Elya (I reviewed this in issue No. 84)

• Is It Okay To Pee In The Ocean? The Fascinating Science of Our Waste and Our World by Ella Schwartz

• Gotta Go! by Frank Viva

Puke

• Get the Scoop on Animal Puke! From Zombie Ants to Vampire Bats, 251 Cool Facts About Vomit, Regurgitation, and More! by Dawn Cusick

• I Throw Up (Tell Me Why Library) by Katie Marsico

Not gonna lie, this might be my favorite mini issue I’ve ever written 😂

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Read good books and take good care 😘
Sarah

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