Pigeon Poop

PreS-Gr 2—A picturesque British town's "spotless streets" are sullied by a high-flying pigeon and his epic output. The rhyming verse describes the damage: "A silky dog who'd been all black/Was left with spots across his back./A garden gnome was out of luck,/Some champion sunflowers dripped with muck." Chambers's watercolor cartoon illustrations show white blobs dripping from umbrellas and eyeglasses and completely covering a statue. In desperation, the residents concoct an extravagant "birdy scooper" contraption out of "chains and strings,/Cogs and sprockets, stretchy things." When a young girl finds the teary-eyed Pidge trapped behind red steel bars, she cries, "HE SHOULD BE FREE!/'I'll save our town-leave this to me.'" The bird's next appearance is met with great fanfare as he is spotted in the sky wearing a "poop-proof … pigeon didey." Fans of potty humor will enjoy the many scatological euphemisms and giggle at the poop-filled illustrations, but for others it might be hit-or-miss.—Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada