I am not sure why I wanted to read Hello, My Name is Poop. I mean, I enjoy a book about poop as much as the next person, but this time, I should have flushed. Ben Katzner, Ian McGinty, and Rebecca Taylor are probably nice people and their graphic novel had potential, but it went for the obvious crappy joke every time. With a Mary Poppinsesque janitor and a diverse cast exploring the power of words, friends, and forgiveness, we had a story that could have been strong, but frankly, stinks.
When Will Poupé is being bullied, and his best friend steps in to help, the two start off a series of events that make the last two days school terribly memorable. And when the nickname of Poop sticks to Will, he learns that words are magical, powerful, and dangerous. And with a lot of poop puns (he makes a bird out of poop and calls it Turdie) and flying poop (he cannot control is poopy powers at one point and makes a flood o’ crap happen) we just have a poopy story. It is about the factor of poop, and less about the message.
The artwork is round, lots of brown, and medium to busy details. Of course, there are other colors, but overall basic ones. There is nothing special happening in the illustrators, though the janitor (who turns out to the be the reason Will learns about his potential powers) does have a nice disco jumpsuit.
I know that there is an audience for this book. I am not it. Still, if you find this book on your own, read it and like it, great. I just cannot put myself out there for the potential of stepping in it and making you not trust my judgement for next time.