A Stinky History of Toilets: Flush with Fun Facts and Disgusting Discoveries

by Olivia Meikle, Katie Nelson, Ella Kasperowicz (Illustrator), Neon Squid

Overview

You sit on it every day, but how much do you really know about your toilet? Discover the history of pooping and peeing in this frankly disgusting nonfiction book.

Authors Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle have scoured the toilet bowls and sewers of the world to find out how humans have done their business throughout history. It’s time to get to the bottom of toilets! Prepare to be revolted by:

• A fossilized Viking turd discovered by archaeologists
• The Mongol catapult used to fling smelly poop at their enemies
• The reason ancient Romans used pee to wash their clothes

Filled with poop facts and vomit-inducing stats, you will also learn how diseases like cholera spread through bad sanitation, why some of the earliest toilets had a tendency to explode, and how medieval kings and queens had special helpers to wipe their bums.

Featuring hilarious illustrations by Ella Kasperowicz, it’s a history book like no other!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684493739
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/05/2024
Series:	Wacky Histories
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	252,379
Product dimensions:	9.31(w) x 11.25(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Olivia Meikle and Katie Nelson are professors, podcasters—and sisters! Their first joint venture was a speculative enterprise where Katie (age 7) attempted to dig a hole to China, and Olivia (age 11) built a hospital for all the worms that came out of the hole. The project went so well that they’ve enjoyed working together ever since. Together they host the popular What’sHerName history podcast and teach History (Katie) and Women’s Studies (Olivia) on opposite sides of the Rocky Mountains. Olivia and Katie previously wrote The Book of Sisters for Neon Squid.

Ella Kasperowicz, AKA Ellastrated, is a UK-based illustrator. She creates playful, relatable and modern information illustrations inspired by travel, mental health, and friendship.

Editorial Reviews

"Sure to elicit both groans and giggles in equal measure. . . This STEM selection is flush with high-interest appeal." —Booklist

"A fascinating history of the porcelain god and other sanitary (and unsanitary) practices." —Kirkus

From the Publisher

2023-11-18
Coverage of an essential hygienic appliance and what preceded it.

Starting with numbers (How much poop do humans produce?) and basic biological facts (What is poop, anyway?), the authors move briskly through highlights of the cultural and scientific story of our dealings with our excreta, from the Stone Age to the present, around the world. Unavoidably, there are gross moments, such as the Vikings’ very nasty parasites, and shocking ones, including the Mongols’ plague-spreading germ warfare, but these bits add to the thrill inherent in this material. Happily, the British Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole gets a small tribute for her work treating cholera; both she and John Snow, the first public-health detective, deserve to be better known, as does the Elizabethan inventor of the flush toilet. And the Chinese get credit for inventing both toilet paper and sewer pipes. We learn about the positive side of poop, which has uses in agriculture and as fuel. Modern sanitation methods are also described, and though future developments elude prediction, ingenious solutions for astronauts and Antarctic scientists might hold hints. Flat-color art with varied compositions is clear, instructive, amusing, and simplified but roughly accurate in depicting clothing and period settings. People throughout are racially diverse.

A fascinating history of the porcelain god and other sanitary (and unsanitary) practices. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews