The Real Poop on Pigeons! by Kevin McCloskey

Kevin McCloskey was inspired to create the fantastic We Dig Worms! when his wife, a librarian, asked him for a "fun worm book." The result is truly a very fun, informative book that is both a graphic novel and beginning reader. Now, McCloskey takes on another sort of under appreciated creature, the pigeon, with The Real Poop on Pigeons!

McCloskey begins The Real Poop on Pigeons! with a conversation between two people in the park. As the title suggests, this book begins with the universally held idea that pigeons are rats with wings that make a huge mess with their poop. But, a parade of kids dressed as pigeons - weird, but also really cute - set these two adults straight.

Carrier pigeons, who race without stopping and can go faster than a car, are the first in the species to start this look at the maligned bird. A few pages about the anatomy and history of pigeons also reveals that they mate for life! Breeding and the many amazing pigeons that result from it are examined next. 

McCloskey, who is also teaches illustration at Kutztown University, takes a few pages to talk about Pablo Picasso, who, as a child, cleaned out his father's pigeon coop and loved the birds so much that he named his daughter Paloma, which is pigeon in Spanish. I also learned that pigeons are in the same family as my favorite extinct bird, the dodo!

I really should wrap up my review of The Real Poop on Pigeons! but there are so many fascinating facts that McCloskey cleverly includes in his book, it's hard to stop. I'll end where he does, with that perennial question, "How come we never see baby pigeons?" You'll have to read The Real Poop on Pigeons! to get the answer, and when you do you just might find clues to the next subject of McCloskey's book...

Source: Review Copy