You might not want to recommend this book out loud in a group of mixed company as you will get a few looks, giggles, and teasing. I Eat Poop: A Dung Beetle Story is your “kid eats an odd food, is afraid he will be teased like (you will learn as we go along) his ex-best friend, and the lesson he learns about being himself.” This time it is just with a dung beetle and other creatures.
There is kid humor, and at the end some adult humor, too (the praying mantis says casually, “My mom ate my dad”). Mark Pett mixes fact and fiction to create a picture book that is both educational and entertaining. The different students/critters might even make you and your child want to learn about them. Especially since, as we at learn the end when (spoiler) the school is not only filled with weirdos we learn a fact about moths. So how does a moth smell with its nose in its armpits….?
The artwork (also by Pett) is what you expect. Various bugs in simple drawings but with flair and pose. They are amusing but look like a bunch of kids eating and playing at school. The endpapers are a fun addition with their Yearbook Setting of each alphabetical bug, insect, arachnid, and moth covering two pages and the end adds a little more to the fun. The colors are neither bold nor muted, but a comfy in between.
Best for probably ages of kindergarten to about second grade (though younger listeners can enjoy as well), this book is probably for most kids. I mean come on! There is POOP in it!
