Life-Sized Animal Poop

by John Townsend

How big is an elephant’s poop? This fun yet informative book about animals gives kids all the scientific information they need—plus the “yuck factor” they love!
 
Every animal, big and small, does poop. And kids can learn all about the process from this eye-opening guide, which features to-scale representations of feces from creatures across the globe, as well as salient facts and graphics showing the species’ size relative to humans. There’s even a gatefold image of elephant dung—which can’t fit on a single page! The guide will help young readers to identify different animals, from squirrels, skunks, coyotes, and geese to lynx, koalas, crocodiles, and mountain gorillas. It will open their eyes to nature’s wonders and encourage them to explore and appreciate their local wildlife.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Picture Books

48 pages, Hardcover

Published September 3, 2019

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Dr. John Townsend is a psychologist, popular speaker, co-host of the nationally broadcast New Life Live! radio program, and a cofounder of the Cloud-Townsend Clinic and Cloud-Townsend Resources. He has written or co-written twenty-seven books, including the bestselling Boundaries, Safe People, and Hiding from Love. He and his wife, Barbi, live in southern California. They have two grown sons.

Reviews

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I can speak for every child when I say, I wanted real pictures of the poop and not tasteful single-tone drawings.

[Dna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting. I couldn't put it down.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 4 year old absolutely loves this. Who knew a book about poop would become a favorite?!

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

How could I pass this up when I saw it on the library shelf? I knew my kids would love it. They did. As an adult reader, I have a few quibbles. First, the color-scheme was slightly frustrating. I had a hard time making out the distribution area on a few of the maps. And sometimes the colors were just kind of off-putting. (I realize it's a book about poo, but still.... there's no definition to the animals, just, for example, red silhouette of a coyote and the red poo. I found myself missing more contrast.) I liked the review by Denise: "I think I can speak for every child when I say, I wanted real pictures of the poop and not tasteful single-tone drawings." Also, there's a glossary and index but no Bibliography. However, at least a wildlife consultant is credited: Daniel Roberts, co-founder of the National Poo Museum in Sandown, Isle of Wight -- I can see this inspiring a bunch of kids, be prepared! ;-) Anyway, I think the book has value in terms of showing the variety of poo, sizes, shapes, etc. (and the fold-out spread with the T-Rex poo is pretty awesome) but if you actually want to be able to identify scat in the wild, you'll probably need another book.

[Aj Fried · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one of our best costco purchases recently. And we learned sooooo much about animal poop!

[Kori Frazier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super fun book for kiddos that are into animals. It answers the weird questions of “how big is an elephants poop?” So you don’t have to google it 🤣