Poo in the Zoo
Written by Steve Smallman
Illustrated by Ada Grey
Published by Little Tiger Press
Weirdly, we received this book for review the very DAY after we'd been to a local zoo, and mused about just what happens to all that dung. We spotted a poor zoo worker shovelling heaps of antelope plops, and imagined that - though the stuff was stinky - it would be brilliant for the plants.
So in "Poo in the Zoo" we meet a happy little chap whose job it is to clean up after all the animals. Big jobs, small jobs, stinky jobs and slimy jobs, the poor little fellah is quick with his spade but sometimes shovelling shmelly shtuff is a seemingly endless and thankless task.
After a rather mischievous iguana escapes, poo takes on a whole new dimension as the iguana ruthlessly breaks into the canteen and eats his fill, before polishing off his robust lunch with a few fireflies for good measure. The resultant poo, rendered in all its glowing glory by Ada Grey's rather expert way of painting plops, is quite spectacular and something to behold.
The glowing poo is put on display, and is shortly procured by an avid collector of all things scatological, taking pride of place in his collection. With the moolah, the little zookeeper can afford a robot to do all his shovelling for him (we think this book needs a sequel where there's a robot rebellion against being made to do our dirty work!! Get on it, Steve and Ada!)
It's a book that's almost guaranteed to put a huge grin on your little ones' faces and if you can keep a straight face while reading Steve's awesome plop-based rhymes, we'll gladly raise our hats to you!
Charlotte's best bit: A jar of Bluebottle poo (in the rather awesome poo-based end-papers!)
Daddy's Favourite bit: It's pongy, ploppy, slimy and sloppy but we love it all the same! A poo-tastic peer into the behind the scenes cleanup at the zoo!
(Kindly sent to us for review by Little Tiger Press)