Monthly Archives: July 2020

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What do They Do With All That Poo?

Every question you and your kids may or may not have had about what happens to the piles of poop that builds up in zoos is answered in What do They Do With All That Poo? Through a mix of rhymes and fact-filled prose, author Jane Kurtz shows kids that poop is nothing to be afraid of, but learn from.

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This article was originally published on Aug. 20, 2018

Potty Training Books About Poop

If you are looking for books about poop, you are not alone! As a veteran early childhood teacher, I have known many toddlers who won’t go poop on the potty during the potty training process. And not just toddlers. There are preschoolers who struggle with this too. This is only for a season though, so be encouraged!! And if you’re looking for more comprehensive help, check out our potty training course, Peaceful Potty Training.

You are smart to add some poop books to your potty training toolbox. We have lots of other potty training resources to help you out, too! Check out our potty training songs, insight about when to potty train, and tips for potty training a 3-year-old.

One of the most helpful resources for potty training is to use a visual chart and schedule! Eliminate nagging and constant reminders with fun visuals for children that prompt them to use the bathroom at the appropriate time. Grab your own visual schedule for your child.

Do potty training books about poop help a child who won’t go poop in the potty? They do for some!

There are two main reasons that children don’t want to go poop in the toilet:

1. They are scared to go poop on the toilet
2. It hurts when they go poop on the potty

If children are afraid to go poop on the potty (a very real fear), reading books about how to go poop is very helpful. We can’t forget that these kids are still learning about their own bodies. Once they understand the connection, going poop into the potty becomes routine.

Make sure to acknowledge your child’s fears or feelings and let these poop books work their magic. Also, give them a bit of privacy and allow them enough time to make this possible. Our potty training visual schedule is a great way to get them excited about this and to know when it is best for our body to poop.

If your child is in pain when they go poop on the potty, the process could take months to work through. Especially if you are dealing with constipation. This can also lead to fear as well. However, once the pain is gone and there are healthy stools, your child will learn that they DO actually feel better after they go poop in the toilet.

Our potty training course goes into more detail about this and how to work through it.

Potty Training Poop Books

Here are some of our top picks for books about poop. They are perfect for helping a toddler poop on the potty. Even for helping a 3-year-old who won’t go poop on the toilet. Or helping a child of any age poop on the potty. If you are in search of more potty training books for kids, we have those too!

We Poop on the Potty by Little Grasshopper Books

Everyone poops. Animals do too! This book is great for starting the potty training adventure. Your little one will be amazed to learn that animals poop in very different ways and even in unusual places (like underwater)! Then learn how and where humans should poop.

It Hurts When I Poop: A Story for Children Who Are Scared to Use the Potty by Howard Bennet

If you have a little one who has anxiety about going poop on the toilet, this book is for you! It’s written by a pediatrician and designed for young children who relate the pain of having bowel movements to the toilet. It’s ideal for children who have become stubborn poopers. The character in the story, Ryan, visits a doctor who helps him learn that he is the ‘boss of his body.’ Ryan can make going on the toilet pain-free!

Where’s the Poop by Julie Markes

This engaging lift-the-flap story will encourage your little one to find the poop on each page. Tigers, monkeys, pandas too! Everyone poops! This book is fun and an easy read. It gently reminds young children that we have a place to poop too, the toilet!

Dash’s Bellyache by Wendy Hayden

With the simple storyline, this book is ideal for your littlest one who is struggling with constipation or tummy troubles. Dash eats special “poo candy” to help him go pain-free and enjoy the go! A great story for your little animal lover that really helps take some of the fear out of using the toilet.

Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi

With super simple text and bright illustrations, this is the perfect book for teaching little ones that everyone poops! Learn about all types of animals and the places that they poop, while reminding your child that we poop on the potty. Your child will be surprised by the sheer size of elephant poo and want to compare their own – on the potty!

“Bloop, Bloop” Goes the Poop by Temara Moore

What to do when you feel your tummy rumbling and making all sorts of noises? It’s time to “Bloop, Bloop” in the toilet! This humorous poop book helps your child learn to leave the toys and books, rush to the toilet and listen for the special sound of a job well done.

From Chewing to Pooing: Food’s Journey Through Your Body to the Potty by Lauren Gehringer

Help your little wonderer answer the question, “Where does poo come from?” This informative rhyming book is great for helping young children understand WHY we need to poo and how complex and magical our bodies really are. Once little ones understand that eating more plants helps our bodies poop with ease, they will be much more interested in eating their veggies!

We hope that if you have a preschooler or toddler who is afraid to poop on the potty that one of these books about poop will help them understand their bodies more so that they can feel comfortable trying it.

Can’t get enough awesome kids’ books in your life? Grab our free printable of the best preschool books and find quality books for a variety of topics!

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Lauren Vaughan

I am an educator, book enthusiast, and a stay at home momma to a precious and long-awaited little boy and girl. My degree is in Early Childhood Education and Curriculum and Instruction and I have spent the last 15 years working with littles. I feel very fortunate to have this time to watch my babies grow and I can’t wait to share my passion for learning and reading with you!

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These Children’s Books About Poop Are Funny & Educational

Bookshelf

Shutterstock

Get ready for some pooptastic times reading with your kid.

by Jennifer Parris

Oct. 29, 2021

As a parent, you probably talk about poop pretty much every day. Think about it: how often do you ask your child if they have to go to the bathroom, find out if they forgot to flush the toilet again, or (ack) if they accidentally pooped their pants. Poop has a way of working itself into almost any banter with your babe, which is probably why children’s books about poop are so popular. If you can’t have enough crappy conversations with your kiddo, you can keep the convo going by reading these books right before bed (just make sure your kiddo hits the potty first).

But make no mistake: children’s books about poop are quite different from potty training books. That’s right, those books are all about toilet training so that you can finally pitch the PullUps, but books about poop are actually quite educational. Your child can learn how poop is made, learn how animals go (and what their bowel movements look like), or read stories about kids who refuse to go Number two.

So even though your kiddo might giggle and think it’s gross, guess who’s going to be totally engaged when you read these children’s books about poop? Actually, both of you.

We only include products that have been independently selected by Romper’s editorial team. However, we may receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

1

“A Kids Book About Your Microbiome” by Ara Katz

“A Kids Book About Your Microbiome” by Ara Katz

Akidsco.com

If you thought that this was a science book that’s going to induce some snoozing, think again. A Kids Book About Your Microbiome teaches your child about the biology that goes into producing their poop. It delves deep into what a microbiome is (it’s basically a beneficial bacteria, natch) that lives both inside and outside of the body. Your child will learn how microbiomes help keep their poop healthy (yes, poop must be healthy!) and how it can indicate if they’re sick. The book is for ages five and up, and is perfect for curious kiddos who want to know the backstory behind their BMs.

2

“Everyone Poops” by Taro Gomi, illustrated by Amanda Mayer Stinchecum

“Everyone Poops” by Taro Gomi, illustrated by Amanda Mayer Stinchecum

Amazon

It’s true, it’s true! Everyone poops. From their grandparents to their siblings, friends and family, every single person on the planet poops. But in Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi, the main focus of the story is on the animals, and their own fecal adventures. It explains how big or small a poop is depending on the animal — it shows how they go to the bathroom and which animals even clean up after themselves afterwards. It just might be a reminder for your kiddo to wipe really well when they’re in the bathroom. The language is frank but fun: i.e. “A one-hump camel makes a one-hump poop, And a two-hump camel makes a two-hump poop. Only kidding!”

3

Where Do You Poop? by Agnese Baruzzi

Where Do You Poop? by Agnese Baruzzi

Amazon

Of course, if someone asked you where you poop, you’d (obviously) be taken aback. But when you regained your composure, you’d probably say the bathroom. But there are so many other places to poop, as is evidenced by the book, Where Do You Poop? When you think about it, there are a lot of places where animals specifically can go, like on a lawn or, if you’re a bird, mid-air. This rhyming pull-the-tab book can be used as pure entertainment or also as a potty training tool to convince your child that, no, they shouldn’t poop on a patch of grass outside your home.

4

The Kids Book of Poop by Professor Poopy McDooDoo

The Kids Book of Poop by Professor Poopy McDooDoo

Amazon

It might be hard to take a poop book seriously when its author is named Professor Poopy McDooDoo, but you’ll definitely want to give The Kids Book of Poop a read. The book is meant for young readers who will get the bathroom humor and silly illustrations. And as it turns out, this poop book has some silly laughs for both parents and their kids. As one reviewer wrote: “Not only did my children find it hysterical and entertaining, but it is one of the few children’s books that I have ever read where I wasn’t eagerly awaiting the last page.”

5

What Is Poo? by Katie Daynes

What Is Poo? by Katie Daynes

World of Books

So often, people think of poo as a waste byproduct — and they’re right. But there’s so much more to the stinky stuff than you might imagine, which is what makes What Is Poo? an important read. This lift-the-flaps book will engage little readers, and help them discover how much poop each animal makes. More than that, though, they’ll learn all the interesting things that you can do with poop… beyond flushing it down the toilet, that is. It has a question and answer format to help little readers with any burning questions about (you know) bowel movements.

6

The Poop Song by Eric Litwin, illustrated by Claudia Boldt

The Poop Song by Eric Litwin, illustrated by Claudia Boldt

Amazon

Why read or talk about poop when you can sing about it? In The Poop Song, you and your child can get a good giggle as you read the silly sing-along picture book that’s totally about turds. From dinosaurs to pelicans, space aliens to cats, your family will learn how each animal goes to the bathroom, complete with a catchy chorus. Like some other poop books, this one is meant to encourage younger kids (preferably those in the preschool set) to practice going potty on the toilet, but even if they won’t ditch their diapers, you’ll still have a good laugh as you see how each animal does Number 2.

7

It Hurts When I Poop! By Howard J. Bennett, MD, illustrated by M.S. Weber

It Hurts When I Poop! By Howard J. Bennett, MD, illustrated by M.S. Weber

Amazon

Listen, constipation is no laughing matter. At least, that’s what Ryan is finding out in the book, It Hurts When I Poop! By Dr. Howard J. Bennett. Ryan is a little boy who is afraid to use the toilet because he’s afraid it’s going to hurt him. But when Ryan’s parents take him to the doctor, he learns what poop is comprised of. He also finds out the correlation between what he eats and how his poop is. By understanding the foods that can make going to the bathroom a breeze or not, Ryan understands that he’s able to control his poop so that it won’t hurt anymore. Because being blocked up isn’t a joke.

8

I Can’t I Won’t, No Way!; A Book For Children Who Refuse to Poop, by Tracey J. Vessillo, illustrated by Mike Motz

I Can’t I Won’t, No Way!; A Book For Children Who Refuse to Poop, by Tracey J. Vessillo, illustrated by Mike Motz

Amazon

For the most part, pooping is a pleasant experience. It’s a relief from a lot of pressure, and you always feel lighter after a big BM. That’s why it can be maddening when your child purposely refuses to poop. A lot of Amazon reviewers related to the child in I Can’t, I Won’t, No Way! book, because it reminded them of their own craptastic kids who refuse to just go on the potty. One reviewer wrote of her child who did bowel withholding : “Although I don’t really understand it….The day after we read him this book, he was willing to go on a potty.”

9

You Poop Here by Paul Meisel

You Poop Here by Paul Meisel

Black Bookstore

Everybody has their own preference when it comes to pooping. In You Poop Here, your child will learn their rightful place in the pooping kingdom, which, ideally, should be on a potty. In addition to learning about animals and their natural habitats (and how they poop in them), your child can also learn how their body makes poo, too. It’s written in an easy-to-understand way so that little learners will comprehend why it’s important that their caca go into the toilet, and not in a diaper. The hardcover book can be a companion piece for the times when your child is sitting on the potty, or bedtime reading to encourage them to go on the potty when they feel the urge to do so.

10

It Takes Guts: How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel (and Poop), by Dr. Jennifer Gardy

It Takes Guts: How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel (and Poop), by Dr. Jennifer Gardy

Black Bookstore

A lot of children’s books about poop are for younger kids who might still be wearing diapers and refusing to use the potty. But It Takes Guts: How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel is aimed at older kids, particularly those around 9-13 years old. It talks about how your body breaks down food using acids (which, shockingly, don’t burn a hole in your tummy), and how the helpful bacteria that belong in your gut aid in the process. Author Dr. Jennifer Gardy turns what would be a stinky situation into something almost magical, how your body’s organs work together to extract all the good stuff from food (like vitamins and minerals) and get rid of the waste by pooping it out.

11

We Poop on the Potty! by Jim Harbison and Nicole Sulgit, illustrated Jean Claude

We Poop on the Potty! by Jim Harbison and Nicole Sulgit, illustrated Jean Claude

Amazon

Sure, your child might know that all living things poop. But what about fantastical creatures, like dragons and unicorns? Well, in We Poop on the Potty!, early readers will find out how animals, both domesticated and wild, poop. The board book offers fun facts (or at least, they might be fun for your child, like that penguins poop so much that it can be seen from outer space! This book won the Mom’s Choice Awards Gold Award Recipient, and is designed for children in preschool through kindergarten. After reading the book, your child will know the answer to this question: Do aliens poop, too?

12

Where’s the Poop? by Julie Markes, illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung

Where’s the Poop? by Julie Markes, illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung

Walmart

There are a lot of animal books that illustrate how all living beings poop. But Where’s the Poop? shows both baby animals and their parents in their natural habitats. This lift-the-flap book can help your child with potty training, and as you read each page with your child, your kiddo can flip the flap and find (you guessed it) a big ol’ pile of poo. The goal of the book is to show your child that everyone has a place to go to the bathroom — including them, too. The mommy and daddy animals check in on their young to see if they’ve pooped, and it’s up to your child to, um, find the feces. When your kiddo sees the positive reinforcement that comes from the animals, it might make them want to go doo-doo, too.

13

Jurassic Poop: What Dinosaurs (and Others) Left Behind

Jurassic Poop: What Dinosaurs (and Others) Left Behind by Jacob Berkowitz, illustrated by Steve Mack

Amazon

Left Behind, will resonate with young readers. Not only will you learn how dinosaur poop managed to stay preserved after all these eons, but also learn what they might have eaten as a way to learn more about them. What’s even more interesting is that a turd can turn into a rock, too. And frankly, if a T Rex can poop, your child can poop on the potty, too.

There are so many children’s books about poop. While it might not be the most pleasant topic, helping your child to learn about (and love) their poo can teach them to be healthier… and maybe, just maybe, a reluctant toilet trainer will be tempted to poo in the potty.

14 Books to Help Your Child Poop

It probably comes as no surprise that Annette and Jessica keep a Poop Library.  We spend lots of time searching for just the right books that help our littlest clients normalize pooping. And of course, we want to share with you all our favorite go to kids’ books!  Browsing your local library you’ll see that there is a book for almost every topic you can think of relating to bathroom issues you and your kiddo may be dealing with.  There are books that address kids that withhold, accidents, constipation, kids that can’t sense their body signals, fear of sitting on the potty, kids too busy to stop, and picky eating.  When a child sees themselves and their emotions in a character in a story, sometimes it speaks to them like no adult ever could.  And as a bonus, it often gives the caretaker child friendly words to use and ways to remind the child that the character the love is doing the same thing.

We recently talked about 14 of our favorite books from our Poop Library in a Facebook Live. And yes, it was hard to pick just 14. We have many more books in our library!

Read on as we going into more details about the books

Please note these are all books that we highly recommend and use with the clients we see in person. These are affiliate links and we do receive a small commission (at no cost to you) when you purchase through these links.

Books For Kids that Withhold

1.    It Hurts When I Poop!: A Story for Children Who Are Scared to Use the Potty by Howard J. Bennet MD

A story about a boy who visits the Doctor because he is scared that going to the potty will hurt. The doctor dissuades his fears by telling him an imaginative story of Bill the Coyote and also explains how the body works inside as well how different foods make it easier or harder to go.  

2.    My Puppy’s A Poo Magician: A story about a puppy who is scared to poo by Melissa Yapp.

Geared towards children about 2-3 years old, this story is about a puppy named Meatball who makes his poos disappear by holding them in only to have embarrassing accidents happen later. This book opens the complex conversation about constipation, stool withholding and encopresis and brings it down to a simple level kids can relate to.

3.    Softy the Poop: Helping Families Talk About Poop by Thomas R DuHamel PhD

A little unconventional and very silly, this story is told from the point of view of “Softy the Poop”!  Softy helps kids understand why he wants to be soft instead of hard and how to eat the right foods to make that happen. Softy teaches the difference between normal and constipated poop in a way that toddlers, preschoolers, and Kindergarteners will understand. 

4.    I Can’t, I Won’t, No Way!: A Book for Children Who Refuse to Poop by Tracey J. Vessillo

For parents of children who are potty training and refusing to sit on the potty to go. This book can help your child who will identify with the character who has the same fears and apprehension but then is able to overcome them and just go on the potty!

Books for kids that can’t sense when they have to poop or pee (Interoception)

5.    I Feel… Something: Listening to Your Body for Kids by DJ Corchin

If your child tells you they don’t feel when they have to pee or poo, they may be dealing with a sensory disorder relating to interoception. This book introduces the concept of interoception (sensing the body’s signals) to kids in a fun way to help them interpret and deal appropriately with the signals their body is sending them on a daily basis. This book is not just for toileting issues but for other inner body sensations such as hunger and thirst as well. 

Books for kids who are too busy to stop playing to use the toilet

 6.    “Bloop Bloop!” Goes the Poop by Temara Moore

In this story, the character is wondering, what is that rumbling noise in his belly?  He learns that his body is letting him know it’s time to use the potty!  This book uses fun sounds as a way to teach about how to make it to the potty in time!

Books for kids who refuse to sit on the toilet

 7.    The Saddest Toilet in the World by Sam Apple

From the point of view of the toilet who leaves home when his little boy owner refuses to sit on him, this book adds a bit of levity to a stressful situation.   When the character is finally ready to sit on the toilet the toilet is already gone!  He and his family have to search high and low to find it. 

8.    Where’s the Poo? A Pooptastic Search and Find Book by Hachette Children’s Group

This search and find book is perfect to keep your child busy and distracted looking for poo while he is sitting on the potty.  It looks similar to a “Where’s Waldo” style book except they are seeking for poo instead of Waldo!

9.    Social Story: “I Can Push Out My Poos” and “I Can Wipe After Poos” by Melissa Yapp

These are free downloadable social stories that is printable and editable for both boys and girls and can be adapted to your child’s specific situation.  You can have your child help create their own personal story or plan. 

Books for picky eaters

Constipation and hard stools can be the result of picky or selective eating. Not getting enough fiber and water can cause stools to become dehydrated and hard, resulting in painful poops. These books are great ways to introduce new foods to your child and encourage them to include more produce into their day.

 10.  D.W. The Picky Eater by Marc Brown

The character D.W. is the pickiest eater!  She also has some less than desirable behaviors like throwing food on the floor too!  Does this sound like your kiddo?  This book addresses both eating healthy foods as well as having good manners for mealtimes. 

11.  Gregory the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat

Gregory the Goat is the odd goat out because he loves to eat fruits and vegetables instead of old shoes!  Grossed out, his parents take him to the doctor for help and Gregory finally starts eating proper goat food like bottle caps, but now he is eating everything!  Great book about finding a balance between eating fun foods vs growing foods.

 12.  Good Enough to Eat: A Kid’s Guide to Food & Nutrition by Lizzy Rockwell

Geared towards older kids, the guide is a nice introduction to nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins & minerals.   It discusses how digestion works and includes recipes too! 

 13.  I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child

One of our favorites for kids who are hesitant to even try new foods.  A story about Lola who is a very fussy eater whose brother helps her out by by renaming foods like carrots to orange twiglets from Jupiter in an effort to get her to try more foods. 

14.  Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks

This is a hilarious book about monsters who refuse to eat broccoli to relate to kids who don’t eat their vegetables. Their love for eating tractors and rocket ships trumps broccoli until they realize the tasty trees they are munching on look so similar to broccoli!  Maybe vegetables are pretty good after all. 

Books can be a great way to help normalize any of these topics for kids.  The humor in these books can help kids and parents alike feel more comfortable talking about poop and toileting issues they are dealing with.  Books are an easy tool that you can use in addition to your other strategies for addressing toileting issues such as withholding, constipation, and picky eating.   For help finding other strategies for your child’s specific issues, join our private Facebook page here or connect with Annette and Jess here!

4 reasons to read books about poop with your child (yes, you got it right)

If you go to a bookstore in Europe, there will be not one, but several shelves lined with children’s books “about what’s in the pot.” You could say there’s a whole genre of pottery literature for children thriving there. No wonder: after all, this question for a child of a certain age is the most burning issue. Why read about it and what kind of books – says the writer Ksenia Buksha.

For some time now, potty books have appeared in Russia, and some mothers and fathers still find this strange and shameful. But there is nothing to be ashamed of. The development of a healthy child has its own laws: for a two-year-old, it is normal to be proud of your poop or to explore it, and for a six-year-old, it is normal to hold your nose and say “fu” at the sight of bowel movements. All children go this way, and if they are not shamed and helped a little, then many difficulties can be avoided.

Here are some important reasons why you should read books about scribbles and kaki to your children.

1. Everyone does it

Urination and defecation is a frequent and natural process, our health depends on it. But at the same time, the poop is dirty, and it is not customary to talk about it. It is important that the child first learns that pooping is normal, and then already that prohibitions are associated with this. Otherwise, it will be more difficult to get used to the potty.

For the first purpose, Gomi’s Tarot book “Everyone poops” is perfect. This book is for very young children who are just learning to use the potty, and it is suitable even for one-year-olds. On each page, a creature poops and shows what a variety of feces look like.

There is a similar book by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch “The little mole who wanted to know who put it on his head”. The plot of the book is clear from the title. Mole conducts a small investigation, finding out what kind of thing fell on him from above. What do the poop of different animals and birds look like? Informative!

2. Potty training is an important stage

It is usually this stage of development that makes a child proud of himself for the first time. “I’m big, I learned to write and poop myself.” The child likes that he is himself! – controls the process. I wanted – and I could. The potty is associated with the first taboos (you can’t touch the poop!) and the first step to transforming from a baby into a human. This step is not always quick and easy. Children are very comforting and happy when they read about how different animals or other boys and girls also learn to do this.

For example, Potty Time is a toy book that is recommended for children as young as ten months old. It is unlikely that a child at this age will be able to consciously go to the potty, but for dating it is a great option.

Another “training” book – “Max and Potty” by Barbro Lindgren with illustrations by Eva Erickson. First, Max puts his dog on the potty, and then he sits down himself.

3. Potty problems need to be addressed

Some children have a difficult relationship with the potty. Some people are afraid of the toilet. Someone has constipation or enuresis (urinary incontinence). It is difficult for someone to break away from the games and run to the potty on time. Someone is very squeamish and does not want to go to the potty in the garden. Many childhood neuroses manifest themselves precisely in relations with the potty. There are many problems, and books have been written about them all. Because it’s easier to solve them together with book characters.

We did not find any books in Russian that described all these problems. But there are books about poop not for kids, but for older children (5-6 years old).

Pernilla Stalfelt, for example, is not afraid of difficult topics at all: she has a children’s book about death, about sex, and everything is tactful and appropriate, with humor and warmth. Her “Little Poop Book” details where poop comes from, what color it is, and that it’s okay to poop and everyone does it. Even the king himself!

In the book “Spring and Poop” by Estonian Andrus Kiviryakhk, besides Poop, there are other strange characters: for example, Gum, Daddy’s Socks and Pirate Spoon. This means that this book is no longer for the very young, but for those who are older and ready for potty humor.

4. Toilet humor is part of children’s culture

Yes, yes, although it may seem strange to us adults. But no one canceled the stage of potty jokes. And if you do not pass it on time, then you will want to joke about poop later. Very instructive, for example, are Mozart’s letters to his cousin. We all know that little Wolfgang was a child prodigy, he only did concerts, and he didn’t have time to “dirty joke” – well, he made up for it after twenty. And although not everyone likes Rabelais’s humor, it nevertheless entered the history of literature. We will assume that at that stage it was important for humanity to cultivate the bodily bottom and put it into context.

Anna Suchkova’s book “The Adventures of a Poop” is definitely not for the little ones, because here the turd is the protagonist, one might even say the lyrical hero. And it doesn’t matter what it’s made of. Although … probably important. On the Internet, this book has been ridiculed more than once, but it is better to read it yourself. We found her to be quite good.

There are a lot of good books about poop, most of them have not yet been translated into Russian. But we are sure that over time, more of them will appear in our stores. How to treat this literature correctly? Remember that children grow up, and we should watch them more and be less afraid to do something wrong.

Poop in children’s literature | Papmambuk

A small children’s book about a mole caused a heated discussion among visitors to online bookstores. More precisely, not a discussion – this word is poorly suited to describe what is happening on the forums – but literally “screams of the soul. ”

One young psychologist even admitted that when he picks up this children’s book, he immediately feels a “smell”. Like in the toilet. And on this basis, the psychologist considered the book bad. You can’t deny him a developed imagination. But smells can haunt us for a variety of reasons. And, for example, the popular television series ER and House M.D. should have awakened in such a sensitive person a whole cacophony of imaginary smells, no more pleasant than a book about a small mole. I think if you sniff at the classic works of Dickens or Hugo, especially in some fragments, it will also not seem a little.

But the main complaint was not the imaginary bad smell, but the very “meanness of the topic”. Just think about what books began to write! And then – about what wonderful, kind and sweet books and cartoons were in “our” Soviet time: “Blue Puppy”, “Blue Wagon”, “Blue Arrow”, “Blue Country” and “What a Blue Sky”. (Oh, mommy… Is it all right that everything is so blue? But we have an adult edition, right?)

Attempts to return to that happy era are becoming more active and tangible. Some time ago I was invited to a Moscow library to read to children. Then the librarians took me to drink tea and, among other things, they ask if I can make a list of books for them that children should be forbidden to read. And it was long before the adoption of the law “on the protection of children from harmful information.” In general, the talk about the so-called “ethical filters” in relation to children’s literature and children’s books comes up all the time. And I think now is the time to discuss this issue.

Hardly anyone will argue with the fact that a children’s book is a piece of art. And with the fact that the function of art, in particular, includes a constant change in the boundaries of the “cultural” in the direction of their expansion. Art in its own language begins to speak on topics that we may be embarrassed to talk about in everyday life or that have not yet fallen into the focus of science (for example, psychology).

And, as a rule, these topics are quite important.

On the one hand, “poop” is an area of ​​low (that which is “below the waist”) and taboo. On the other hand, “potty training”, i.e. instilling in a child a certain attitude towards the fulfillment of his physiological needs is the most important stage of “humanization”, socialization. Poop is something around which a lot of things happen in the life of a small child – both suffering and “victories”. They are, as they say, “given to him in sensations”, and these sensations are often hypertrophied. The first strict prohibitions are also associated with poop – prohibitions on manipulation, for example. And adults behave, in the opinion of the child, rather complicated: either they are keenly interested in the contents of the pot, or they show that it is indecent and even disgusting. And everything is complicated with the naming of poop: the first euphemisms that a child learns are associated with this area: “do”, “go big”, “do ah”.

In other words, it is here that the child encounters the first severe social restrictions. Everything that happens around the poop, bears the shadow of a neurosis. Conversely, very often childhood neuroses manifest themselves in “toilet problems.” Constipation, for example, is a common syndrome associated with didactogenic neurosis. I had a boy in the first grade who, having first entered another first grade, stopped pooping himself. He began to learn to write – and stopped pooping. I could not withstand the stress that fell upon him, and as a result I had to parachute him into my “psycho-saving” territory. By the way, he turned out to be a very good boy, only he went to school early.

I once read something that struck me: the well-known psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim, who worked with autistic children, noted that these children very often have problems with stool. They suffer from chronic constipation. And as a result, they have problems with eating. Therefore, the first thing that the curative educators at the Bettelheim clinic taught children was to “poop carelessly” (Bruno Bettelheim “The Empty Fortress”, 2004). This is, of course, an extreme example. But in ordinary life, we often come across the so-called “toilet humor”, which is typical for older preschoolers and younger schoolchildren (not to mention teenagers). It, too, can be seen as a spontaneous way to balance neurotic tension. It is no coincidence that children who are treated harshly by their parents are more prone to such humor. We don’t like this humor. (I definitely don’t like it.) He seems to us not at all funny, rude, offensive, vulgar (which, of course, he is). And we understandably tend to ban it – at least in the public sphere, in our presence.

But if we understand the reasons behind these phenomena, maybe it is more expedient not to eradicate something, but to try to create a socially acceptable counterbalance? For example, to give children the opportunity to laugh about it with the help of a literary word and a witty picture?
By the way, the barrier preventing the penetration of the “toilet word” into literature was broken by the great enlightener of the 16th century Francois Rabelais. If you remember, his Gargantua pisses so profusely that there is a flood. Well, this Gargantua does a lot of other “non-intelligent” things, followed by his son Pantagruel. The man of the New Age, who had only recently emerged from the Middle Ages, read about it with pleasure and laughed out loud. After all, it was such a triumph of healthy physicality, such a feeling of personal freedom!

We are also trying to emerge from that supposedly “sky-blue” Soviet moralism, which sometimes borders on hypocrisy.
But we are not doing well so far. Here appeared a small translated book about a small mole, and we are already in a slump. We are embarrassed, and the smells are strange. And all because the book is lonely. That it was out of context in our Russian latitudes.

In the West, in whose literature there are much fewer taboos and complex topics began to be mastered much earlier, this little book is not at all “lonely”. In the States, for example, special literature is produced for reading in the toilet. (Everyone knows that many people read in the closet. And enterprising publishers decided to meet this “secret” need.) But these books are for adults. As for children, in books, on the one hand, they talk about poop as a natural phenomenon, as something that is typical for all living beings, and on the other hand, they have a “serious” conversation about how and why to use pot.

Poop as a universal phenomenon is the subject of a yet untranslated book by Nicola Davis and artist Neil Leighton. It is called that – “Poo” (“Turd”). The subtitle reads: “A Natural History of the Indecent.” I must admit that this book shocked me, on the one hand, with the encyclopedic nature of the information, and on the other, with its witty presentation and subtle humor. It begins like this:
“Adults are embarrassed by this.
Horses ignore this.
Dogs love to smell it.
And babies do it in their diapers.
They call “it” differently: poop, feces, excrement, pellets, manure. But no matter what they are called, we meet them everywhere. And that’s what animals do in exactly the same way humans do.” And then it turns out that different living beings have excrement of different sizes and different colors, different consistency and with different smells. That it depends on the size of the animal and what it eats. That poop is the end product of the act of digestion, and you can learn a lot about digestion from them. In particular, fossilized poop can be used to find out what primitive animals ate, and this method is used in paleontology.

That “good” poop is an indicator of health. And doctors know this.
That in the animal world, excrement, among other things, plays the role of a special language, and the understanding of this language is associated with exciting pages of animal life.
That poop is involved in the cycle of substances. That some creatures find shelter in the excrement of others. That there are creatures that eat the excrement of others and thus act as natural orderlies, and that for this reason a monument was erected to the scarab beetle in one of the small Australian towns.
That people do not always show disgust for poop. They use the excrement of some animals as fertilizer, and manure, for example, as fuel and even as material for building dwellings. (True, this is already a story with ethnography.)

It seems to me that such a book helps a lot in life. You read it – and such kinship with everything around you embraces! Delight in the intelligent design of life in general. Even the law on the protection of children from information (and other similar laws) becomes easier to relate to. You think: after all, once people even built houses out of shit – and nothing. But we still live in a different time.
This book – “Poo” – is, of course, addressed to teenagers. By and large, it also teaches to speak the right language about the complex and taboo. And this is the most important skill. Sometimes salutary.

And here is a book for babies. Probably, you can translate its name like this: “What do you have in your pants?” .
We are talking about a little curious mouse (about a baby mouse), who sticks his nose everywhere and, in particular, is interested in what his “peers of the same age” “keep” in their pants. Each of them – a hare, a lamb, a puppy, a foal – without any hesitation demonstrates to the mouse the contents of his diaper, which is stuffed with poop. Naturally, everyone has their poop. (We have already met with a similar “motive” in the story of a little mole. And poop, or excrement, as we already understood from the previous book, is one of the traces left by all animals without exception. Therefore, in the description of their differences, one can see, so say, the scientific and educational component of the baby book.) Then all the friends of the mouse demand that he show what he himself hides in the diaper. The little mouse does not resist, takes off the diaper and … It turns out that the little mouse has nothing in the diaper. “Because,” the mouse tells the children’s assembly, “I go to the potty!” Everyone is so amazed by this circumstance that on the last spread we see a large company sitting together on pots.
I don’t know about you, but I feel something like a catharsis: what a triumph of progress! And what solidarity in introducing kids to civilization!
Alas, this book, having wandered around our publishing houses, was never printed. Publishers were embarrassed by the playful moment in it: opening diaper valves. Like, what are we going to encourage children to climb into other people’s pants? Well… Although, I must say, toddler readers would hardly be embarrassed by this circumstance. After all, this is how parents behave towards them: come on, show me what you have in your diaper? Is not it? And it is no coincidence that the pictures depict not children, but animals, i.e. given a certain condition of the situation.

The third book, also not yet translated, that I want to talk about is the story of Walter farting the dog . Terribly touching. Downright poignant.
Betty and Billy adopt a dog from a shelter. They promise each other that they will love her. But the dog, according to adults, smells terrible. The kids have to admit it: Walter farts all the time. He would like not to fart, but he can’t help it. He is prescribed a diet, he tries to eat little – nothing helps. Adults do not want to put up with his existence: this dog should not be in the house! Children cry, “Walter, you have to stop farting.” Clever Walter understands everything. He decides to endure, no matter the cost. He endures half the day and the whole evening, and half the night.
Thieves are breaking into the house. They immediately decide that Walter can’t bite them – he can’t even bark, he’s such a jerk. But Walter isn’t a jerk at all. It’s just that all his strength went into not farting. And now, when the thieves have already pulled out all the most valuable and were about to leave, he can not stand it. And since he endured for a long, very long time, he does not just fart. What it produces is more like a real gas attack. Thieves lose all caution, they throw bags, pinch their noses and grab their throats with their hands, then jump out the window with a terrible noise – and fall into the hands of the police. And what about Walter? He still farts. But he saved precious things that thieves wanted to steal. And adults are filled with gratitude to him. They decide: Walter should stay in the house. We’ll have to adapt to it, learn to live with it.
You can think that this is a book about a poor dog, or you can think that this is a metaphor for old age or illness. And that our squeamishness is not always good for us. Therefore, maybe we should not indulge ourselves if, for example, we begin to smell when we look at a picture of a mole with a poop on its head.
I think so.

Marina Aromshtam

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Information for publishers

Poop literature. Six stories about children’s books about shit – Knife

Since then, Sergei has not spoken to me, he was offended to the point of disgust. Like a girl who was farted in front of without having had time to kiss.

A Japanese acquaintance, seeing a separate shelf dedicated to books about poop for babies, was delighted like Russians rejoice at their native birches:

– If I had known in advance that you have such a Rabelaisian family, I would have brought a hundred more such books! he shouted proudly.

But at that time I was still working in the theater. And, cherishing his reputation, he refused just in case.

Whether our family is Rabelaisian or not, children’s books about shit have been accumulating in the house ever since. Sometimes it even seems that they appear on their own. Of some, the child managed to grow up, of some, I managed to grow up. However, I still consider them instructive and informative.

Former colleagues like Serezha try not to notice this passion. Everything that concerns how everyone else treats them – well, it cannot be said that they are still fenced off from this topic, but . ..

Let’s take the Russian Wikipedia. Only three such books are presented there for consideration. All of them, like, say, the famous book “Pooping” by the writer Taro Gomi, are beautifully illustrated, written with a claim to academicism and a scientific approach, and represent a rather one-sided view, while not at all childish. For children, these books are perhaps too beautiful and instructive. Beauty and instructiveness have nothing to do with the popularization of literature for kids, or with bestsellers as such.

In contrast to the Russian Wikipedia, I will select some books that I do not consider particularly beautiful or instructive to the right extent.

These are just the books that started it all.

“Now the mole could easily lie down to sleep underground…”

Let’s start, as usual, with the most hyped book.

This is Wolf Erlbruch. “The little mole who wanted to know who had put it on his head.” There is no way to bypass it, since it is number one in all categories, the golden fund of children’s literature.

Now everyone knows about this book. Even those who have not seen her in the eye. Suffice it to say that it was one of the first children’s books to popularize the functions of the human body in Europe. That is why, they say, her success contributed to it.

Perhaps, from the point of view of the plot, the story of a mole scrupulously finding out who shits on his head can really be called exciting .

At least for this reason, it can be considered a bestseller quite justifiably.

The book was translated into Russian from German quite a long time ago. But until now, the Internet is replete with the remnants of posts from LiveJournal with the usual Black Hundred wording: “stupid nemchura” and “fritz, who were beaten without vaseline in childhood.”

Perhaps one of the authors of posts about nemchuru will now involuntarily burst into tears. Wolf Erlbruch has long been a universally recognized world classic.

This is a high-level artist who has raised the bar for children’s illustration in Germany to such an extent that children can no longer recommend him – they will still find all the books and force them to buy without recommendations. But Erlbruch is not just a great artist. He is also a philosopher with a civil position and a reflective view of everyday things, which in writing practice is called “X-ray”. The topics raised by Erlbruch seem simple only at first glance. Probably for this reason there is not a single hint of him in the superficial Russian-language Wikipedia. Almost none, with the exception of this book.

It can be summed up like this: a book about a mole who doesn’t give a shit on his head raises questions of an eternal nature. In this sense, it is no worse than other famous books by Erlbruch, such as “Duck, Death and Tulip” and “The Most Important Question”. This means that the problem of a mole that has been pooped on its head is, one way or another, a variation on the theme of one of the most important existential questions.

“Untaro-san, poop collector”

The topic of poop in illustrated literature has long been the domain of almost exclusively Japan and, more rarely, Korea. It was there that the dawn of the new illustration 1970-1980s, as dynamic as it is anarchic. Since then, everything that appears in Japan has become a bestseller in America and Europe.

Against the general background, poop literature was no exception.

Citing real poop bestsellers for babies as an example, I would pay attention first of all to the Japanese masterpiece “Untaro-san – poop explorer”. Thanks to non-trivial, dynamic and colorful illustrations, this edition is impossible to pass by. The book impudently and therefore quite sincerely makes her sympathize.

The story includes raccoons, zebras, rabbits and other animals up to and including the gorilla. And Untaro-san is, in fact, the name of a fearless Japanese excrement collector. Throughout the book, he studies other people’s poop, and in the end, when he sees a gorilla on a chamber pot, he poops himself out of fear.

What else can be said? “Untaro-san” is a purely Japanese product, a bestseller, absolutely win-win in terms of narrative and enticingly wrapped in a bright package that determines the popularity of today’s kids.

The book has not been translated into English. My edition is Chinese. However, there is also Korean. But there is no Russian. If you come across, even if in Korean, take it without asking what those hieroglyphs mean, because, in principle, this is not so important.

“Don’t be shy about pooping. Poop is an important life element. Do you want us to discuss this together?”

The iconic piece of poop literature, Shit, Poop, Poop, Poop, is recommended reading by none other than the Japanese Toilet Association, and probably no one knows what it means to this day. .

In the early 2000s, such an organization paid author Yachio Murakami (the surname Murakami is very common) a government order for a book to teach Japanese children to toilet. I have only two books from this series, which are translated into English as The Books of Poop, which in Russian should be read as “Kaki’s Book”.

The first two parts are called “Shit, Poop, Poop, Poop” and “Shit Man”.

Both promote literate pooping as a process, without a hint of a complex narrative, which, of course, is close and understandable to a preschool child. And this is one of the first examples of what later became known as the Japanese toilet training picturebook – that is, a visual aid for getting used to the toilet (“visual” – in the sense of pictures).

The third book in this series, which I don’t have, is called Is It Appropriate to Go to the Toilet at School? Of course, a continuation of this kind simply had to follow. After all, even with such a book, the little reader gradually grows up.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that Yashio Murakami’s Kaki books are important for their historical value. Perhaps for an expert in this field, she is no less important than the notorious Erlbruch. Indeed, ever since it became fashionable to publish books about poop all over the world – and all thanks to the Japan Toilet Association breaking the ice of distrust on this issue – thanks to the charm of this book, the war on hypocrisy has been lost. And since then, the main Japanese books about what have been translated into international languages.

“The best shit is mine”

One should not conclude that if a book is written about shit, then it must be Japanese.

China is a country with many persistent social taboos, but in matters of natural administration, the Chinese have long left behind.

Anyone who has been to China knows that the toilets there are structures without barriers. That is, to sit down to poop against each other, staring straight into the eyes, is a sign of an open soul and good tone. This doesn’t seem to exist anywhere. Even in Japan.

If you are sensitive on this issue, then you cannot say that from this point of view the book is a good example.

This is not a traditional Chinese book. The traditions of book illustration are a bit different there. But still, the book is very good.

“My shit is the best” – it’s called.

Actually, all kinds of pooping animals are illustrated here. And here you can see exactly how these animals crap. How? At least, judging by the illustrations in the book, it is very clear.

It seems to me that the unpretentious comparison of “personal” with “foreign” is the correct method of understanding the world, not only for Chinese children. This is the main conclusion from this book, which I really like. Of course, this is how it should be. The one who is currently reading this book has the coolest shit (and in the last picture he is recommended to go to the toilet).

It also seems to me that sometimes we underestimate the Chinese culturally.

“When you’re seated, don’t forget to pick up your shirt. Attention! Here comes the poop!”

It’s high time for baby poop literature. The ice of mistrust has been completely broken. Books about poop have long been found in all civilized bookstores.

French book by Benoit Charles “Ready! Funny stories from the toilet” is a perfect example of the artist’s further work on the issue of natural functions.

In the book “Done!” not a person is taught to go to the toilet, but a duckling. And on top of that, animals do it again, which this time are not particularly good at it. The duckling flushes the water to numerous applause. He pooped. He is great.

Like many “poop” books today, this book combines all of the above factors: beauty, dynamism and a compelling research narrative. It is three-dimensional and large. She is entertaining. In addition, the book sounds by itself, you just need to insert a battery. This is so funny that you can shit yourself. Honestly.

“The dog sat down for a minute in the middle of the alley and ran on, and Poop remained on the path of the park” indicate the book of the popular Estonian writer Andrus Kiviryakhk “Spring and Turd”.