What Animals Leave Behind...

Scat, poop, dung … whatever you call it, tells a story: about the animal, about its environment, and possibly about the future. These three books look at the things wild animals leave behind, each in its own way. Their themes: animals, poop, nutrient cycle, observation

Scat: The Incredible Science of Wildlife Poop (Books for a Better Earth) 

by Anita Sanchez 

96 pages; ages 8-12

‎Holiday House, 2025

Poop, writes Anita Sanchez, is full of surprises. “It can be food. It can be shelter. It can be life…” Poop carries seeds, helps fertilize soil and oceans, and even carries messages to friends and family. Eight chapters discuss what poop is, how it connects the lives of plants and animals, the kinds of information scientists can gather from studying scat, and why some animals eat their own. 

There are a whole bunch of things I love about this book. First is the sly humor Anita injects into the topic. Take section headings for example: “Thinking like an avocado” or “Does a Bear poop in the forest?” Inquiring minds want to know! There are some truly great photos of animals taking dumps in the wild. For folks who want more, there are sidebars, titled “Scat Science” that dive into such topics as why wildlife poop doesn’t smell bad, dino doo, and moths that look like bird droppings. What’s really fun is the Field Guide to Scat at the end of the book, with photos of droppings from insects, birds, and mammals.

Ready, Steady, Sloth! 

by Justin Anderson; illustrated by Manu Montoya 

32 pages; ages 5-8

‎Candlewick, 2025

High up in the forest canopy, hidden among the leaves, there is a sloth. 

Mama sloth doesn’t move much, but today she needs to go down the tree for a special mission. And she’s taking her baby with her. Down, down, down they go. Oh dear… mama sloth is going so slowly you’re going to wonder whether she’ll make it. This journey is important because sloth has to “go” and the only place she can do that is down on the ground.

What I like about this book: Layered text allows younger readers (or read-alouds) to focus on the story of mama and baby sloth’s adventure down the tree, while introducing some of the other forest creatures – including jaguar! Will he find them? Smaller text provides sloth facts (did you know sloths can’t fart?) and back matter introduces all five three-fingered sloth species and the two two-fingered sloths.

For another book on the topic, check out Kyle Goes Alone 

The Secret of Poo Mountain: Book 4 (Whose Poo Is This?) 

by Song-eui Park; illus. by Duck-Young Kim 

88 pages; ages 7-11

‎Lerner/ Graphic Universe   ‎ March 3, 2026

There are as many ways to write about poo as there are kinds. This book is fourth in an educational comic series that takes readers on a journey to learn about the ecology of animals and the sorts of information that can be derived from the study of poo. Previous books have taken Dr. Egg’s team to the desert and on a boat. In this book, they climb a steep mountain. The three Korean scientists who make up the team learn such things as what an animal eats and where it lives by studying the scat left behind.

What I like about this book: Like other books in the series, this one is structured like a scavenger hunt, with each chapter revealing a new clue. That mystery, and the graphic format help make it appealing to readers who might not want to spend time with a field guide.

Beyond the Books: 

Check out this video, Whose Scat is That? Created by the folks at the Saint Louis Zoo.

Write a list of as many words you can think of (or find) that refer to “poo.”  Don’t forget about dinosaurs…

Create your own story or comic about animals doing something in the wild: making breakfast, going to sleep, combing their fur...

You can find an online “field guide to scat” here. Remember: if you head out on a scat-hunt, look but don’t touch!

https://a-z-animals.com/articles/a-field-guide-to-identifying-wild-animal-scat-in-north-america/

Today we’re sharing Ready, Steady, Sloth! with Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. 

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be sharing Scat over at at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, a hangout for MG book bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. 

This week’s review copies were provided by the publishers.

Everything is Connected, sometimes by dust

A River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon 

by Jilanne Hoffmann; illus. by Eugenia Mello 

48 pages; ages 5-8 with interest for older kids

‎Chronicle Books, 2023  (July 25)

theme: ecology, nonfiction, air

Millions of years ago, no ocean lay between us. You and I were one.

Even though the continents are now separated by miles of ocean, the dust of the Sahel travels across Africa and the Atlantic Ocean to reunite with its ancient home in the Amazon basin. The combination of lyrical language and richly colored illustrations take readers on a journey of thousands of miles. 

What I like about this book: Ecologists often say that everything is connected. In this book, Jilanne Hoffman shows how small particles from a thin slice of land between the Sahara and the savannah are essential to the plants and animals of the Amazon. I like how she infuses the text with a sense of longing: When I reach you, we become one once again.  And there is enough Back Matter to satisfy even the most curious minds.

After reading A River of Dust I knew I needed to talk with Jilanne.

Me: Your back matter provides tons of information - and just as many questions - about how dust and climate are connected. How long did you spend researching this topic before you knew you were ready to write the book?

Jilanne: My initial research spanned about six months, starting with the information provided on NASA’s website, and then using JSTOR, the amazing online journal database. I wrote the initial rough draft, which was way too much like a travelog, within the first six months. That version contained no reference to plate tectonics, and it had no back matter. I wanted to put the narrative in place before shaping what turned out to be an overwhelming amount of information. 

Over the next three years, I followed dust trails everywhere, and discovered the man I call “the grandfather” of dust collection, Joseph Prospero, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami. He’s been collecting the dust that crosses the Atlantic for decades, and he kindly reviewed sections of my back matter. He even sent me a pre-published paper describing the history of research involving African dust transport. I followed his trail of journal articles, and then branched out to study everything from the effects of phosphorus and iron in plants and animals to how drought in the Sahel affects the quantity of dust that ends up in the Saharan Air Layer (a 2 to 2.5-mile-thick layer of the atmosphere starting a mile above the surface of North Africa). 

some of the research papers I read...

I followed trails of scientists who used data from NASA’s earth observation satellites (including CALIPSO) to model how rainfall, or lack thereof, affects climate in the short and long term and more! But eventually, I was able to shape the research into “Questions for Curious Minds,” that included plate tectonics, too! After all, the book is also about separation and reconnection. 

After the book was acquired, I kept researching because: 1) I wanted to lean more into plate tectonics so the narrative could come full circle; 2) I needed to respond to the fact checker questioning specific flora and fauna choices in each biome; and 3) I wanted to respond to a sensitivity reader who pointed out that I hadn’t mentioned how human inhabitants have altered some of the soils in the Amazon over thousands of years. There’s also the question of how much phosphorus comes from burning vegetation from Southern Africa, not just North Africa. So once again, I delved into journal articles discussing  anthropogenic sources of phosphorus and soil studies, and found that while the soils in certain Amazonian corridors, usually along rivers, have been purposefully enriched by human activity, the majority of the soils in the Amazon have not. But the amount of phosphorus provided by burning vegetation is still—ah—up in the air. 

And as we went into final, I found a new study suggesting that a larger proportion of the dust crossing the Atlantic may come from a spot in the Sahara to the west of the Sahel’s Bodélé depression. It’s a difficult analysis. So I decided to include a sentence about that, and we changed the title to include North Africa, not just the Sahel. Writing about science is a race to stay current!

Me: Wow! That is a lot of work! Not only does dust blow from Africa, but you mention that dust from the Gobi Desert feeds the trees of the Sierra's. Where does this river of dust end up?

Jilanne: Yes, the Gobi Desert is also a major source of a river of dust on Earth, especially in the spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The dust causes significant air pollution (like all dust storms) in northern China and Mongolia and even further south while spreading across the North Pacific and spilling over the Western United States. A study conducted by UC Merced researchers suggests that the Gobi provides 18-45% of the dust deposited in the Sierras, depending on location. The remainder of the dust originates from California’s Central Valley. The Los Angeles Times likened the whole process to the way a dirty sponge gets rinsed out by rain and snow along the western slopes of the Sierras. 

Me: Are there any citizen/community science projects that encourage people to collect dust falling onto their rooftops? This is a hot topic (so to speak) because the smoke from Canadian wildfires left lots of dust and ash on my roof - which came down in the rain. I usually collect rainwater to water plants, but not this stuff - it was black!

Jilanne: Yes, “ash rain” is a big problem during fire season! You don’t want to be collecting that! 

A variety of citizen science projects collect and analyze dust around the globe. But from my understanding, they tend to be adult-oriented. One recent project was spurred by the enormous dust transported from North Africa in 2021 to Europe. Citizen scientists collected dust samples on snow in the Pyrenees and French and Swiss Alps and found differences related to mineral content, particulate size, amounts on south vs. north-facing slopes, etc. and recorded their findings. The results have not yet been published. 

Other citizen science projects focus more on specific contaminants that can be found in dust, including lead. Breathing air that contains heavy metal particles is especially concerning for children and their brain development. But all sorts of contaminants and even viruses hitchhike their way around the globe on the vehicle of dust, so there’s really no way to avoid it. Wearing a filtration mask during fire season or Spare the Air days may become more the norm in the future as our world heats up. 

Me: Thank you for joining us today. Jilanne has created a downloadable educator guide that includes a group of cross-curriculum activities, including one that asks kids to monitor and report on the air quality where they live. And the guide offers a wonderful “Simon says” PE activity that involves throwing “dust particles” in different directions, depending on the time of year and wind direction name called out by the teacher. You can find it at her website here.

Beyond the Books:

You can monitor the air quality in your area using the AirNow website or app. Sometimes the air quality changes throughout the day, so you might want to check a couple times a day. Are there times of the year when air quality is worse or better? 

Make a simple dust monitor. All you need is some graph paper (I use centimeter ruled), an index card (or panel of milk carton), Vaseline, and a few common supplies. Then tie them to a tree or tape to a lamp post or the outside of a window. A perfect way to collect wildfire dust and pollen! Here’s how to make the card. 

Jilanne Hoffman is a member of #STEAMTeam2023. You can find out more about her at her website. 

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.