Judging book's yuck factor

'Yucky Worms" by Vivian French is a big favorite with little kids. Before reading this book to the kindergartners, I stocked up on worms from the tackle shop so that the children could see for themselves that worms are wiggly, wonderful creatures.

Of course the worms crawled up and out of their containers, which made the show-and-tell even more exciting.

If a worm book can be called "charming," this one is. The illustrations and information are presented in such an engaging way, children understand why worms are our friends.

Never underestimate the power of the yuck factor.

Bart King, a longtime middle school teacher, is a master at presenting yucky stuff with humor and teachable moments found in history, science and the whole wide world.

His latest book, "The Big Book of Gross Stuff" is a compendium of information guaranteed to bring forth a veritable cascade of "Ewwww's!"

The irresistible topics include warts, boogers, toilets, cannibals, zits and slime eels. Interesting facts include the vulture's habit of pooping on his own feet so that they won't get infected by the rotting corpse on which he's perching.

This book is recommended for children age 8 and up, but I don't personally know any 8-year-olds who are ready to read about some of the less-pleasant subjects.

"Poop Happened: A History of the World from the Bottom Up" by Sarah Albee is touted as "The Number One Book on Number Two." This chronological account is a fascinating, if a bit skewed, look at humanity from cavemen to the present to thoughts about the future.

The book makes the point that "the most successful civilizations have been those that paid attention to plumbing."

It catalogs the extremely gruesome consequences (disease, collapse of empires, etc.) that result from the improper disposal of human waste.

The average history textbook isn't going to tell students that human waste was dumped just outside the walls that surrounded the medieval city of Paris. As the waste piles grew, the walls had to be built higher. I recommend this book for middle school and up.

According to a study conducted in 2002 by the London School of Hygiene, it's easier to gross out a younger person than an older person. That useful piece of information came from "The Big Book of Gross Stuff."

Contact Fran Hawk at franbooks@yahoo.com.