The Mark of a Fine Museum

A kind soul visited the Smithsonian museum in Washington, DC and saw some REALLY interesting there...

This is heartwarming (for me)

Via.

You have to read this GROSS STUFF review!

From this fine librarian. (My fave part of this review is where she writes, "I would never force anyone to read this book." WHY NOT?!)

Someone get that driver my book!

Via.

Need to do some fast GROSS research?

A librarian-friend sent me this photo with a note: 

"Returned to my library with quick access tab to the poop page."

Take THE BIG BOOK OF GROSS STUFF quiz!

Over at GoodReads, a reader has put together a quick quiz of your favorite book. But even if you haven't read it, it's sort of fun. I say that despite my score:

Yep, I scored 50% on a quiz on my OWN book!

GROSS STUFF: Endorsed by the best!

Asha Dornfest (the awesome person in charge of Parent Hacks) sent me these messages about The Big Book of Gross Stuff. (I haven't smiled this much since researching slime eels!)

GROSS STUFF is gross!

This Amazon review for The Big Book of Gross Stuff is heartwarming. And I love the warning at the end!

This is an outrage!

This Amazon reviewer says that The Big Book of Gross Stuff  didn't "cross that delicate line into disgusting"? I'm a failure! *facepalm*

(Also, "dogs sauces" are the worst!)

"Good news, ma'am. THE BIG BOOK OF GROSS STUFF is still available."

"YEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!"

From LIFE.

Readers love GROSS STUFF!

A fine young man named Noah recently caught a glimpse of The Big Book of Gross Stuff at the bookstore.

He really liked it!

The Big Book of Gross Stuff: It keeps you regular!

Have you ever seen the pictures of pumpkins pooping out the filling for pumpkin pies?

You haven't? Uh...okay.

Anyway, my brother-in-law had a little fun with the picture on the left. (Thanks, Lee!)

The School Library Journal reviews GROSS STUFF!

I was looking forward to seeing what the School Library Journal would think of The Big Book of Gross Stuff. And today, I got my wish!

This [book's] pages are packed solid with disgusting information on an array of topics ranging from the predictable (vomiting, farting, burping, pooping) to the less obvious (corpses, shrunken heads, childbirth, and Rocky Mountain oysters). 


The author includes many historical anecdotes and interesting bits of gross trivia (did you know that the Apollo 11 astronauts left their defecation collection devices on the moon?). There's an extensive bibliography, which is rare in this type of book. 


The irreverent writing style is frequently laugh-out-loud funny and full of puns. Kids will love the euphemisms for various bodily functions and the sidebars (one has a recipe for making fake snot)... This book is not for the faint of heart. Some adults may feel it is in poor taste, but there are certainly middle school kids (let's face it, boys) who will eat it up.

The Big Book of Gross Stuff: "There's nothing wrong with it."

Reading expert/author Dr. Michael Milone has an interview in the Detroit Free Press in which he talks about the kinds of books kids like to read. Here's the part that caught my eye: 

There's nothing wrong with diving into The Big Book of Gross Stuff.

Did you see that? There's nothing wrong with it! (I've been telling people this for weeks, but no one would listen.) Oh, and as a reward for reading this far, here's a funny T-shirt design I saw today:

Gross Stuff at Costco!

Kid: Hey Dad, this book is about a variety of disgusting things. Did you know that human poop can have over a million—

Dad: Good grief! Put that horrible thing down and go wash your hands.

Photo by R. Rowzee

Toronto: It's Not Gross at All!

Well, THAT was fun!

I had a chance to go on Breakfast Television Toronto this week...above, you can see producer April (left) and host Dina Pugliese, look on as I deal with a skillet of writhing, twisting mealworm grubs! (You can see the video here.)

Oh, and I did use the radish strips after all...you can see them in this picture (Dina is pretending to blow shredded cuttlefish out of her nose):

Another cool stop in Toronto was the YTV studio. (If you haven't seen it, YTV is like a Canadian Nickelodean.) There, cool-host-dude Carlos and I discussed things like slime eels and nicknames for underwear. Yes!

Now you may be wondering WHY these people would have a bald man with a bad fashion-sense on their shows...But hey, who ELSE could you invite on to talk about gross stuff?!

Toronto, Here I Come!

I'm flying to Toronto for a Monday appointment on Breakfast Television with Dina Pugliese. Then it'll be on to YTV to hang out with with cool-host dude Carlos!

Anyway, I'm packing some gross stuff, and I'm thinking about bringing a mystery food. Right now, I'm leaning toward the salted radish strips shown to the right...

Wait, what if someone in Toronto reads this? So much for the mystery! Okay, here's something I'm NOT bringing: These cardboard tubes of lunch meat. The idea is that you pop a tube open like a can of Pringles. What's weird is that these tunes of meat just sit on a counter...they're not refrigerated. Scary!

Yikes. Another interesting thing I saw while shopping was Caucasian Cheese...That's not gross, but since when was there a cheese just for Caucasians?

But anyway, I'm not bringing ANY of this stuff with me to Toronto. And a huge "thank you" to Raincoast Books for making this trip possible!

For the First Time Ever, Nicholas Cage and Ovaltine Are Mentioned in the Same Blog Post!

There's an interview with me over at the Teens Read Too Book Club. And if you want gross, here's a few of my answers!

If your mom wrote the author profile for the jacket of your next book, what would she write?

“We tried our best to raise Bart the right way. But something went very wrong.”

A movie is being made of ONE of your books.  Which book is it, and who will star as the main characters?

I wrote a book titled An Architectural Guidebook to Portland (really!). I’d like to see Nicholas Cage play the role of the Federal Courthouse and Mandy Moore as a plucky little skyscraper who won’t take any backtalk.

You’re writing a book where you can change one major historical event.  Which event do you change?  (For example, Abraham Lincoln wasn’t assassinated, or Japan never bombed Pearl Harbor.)

On January 19^th, 1997, I was stirring chocolate Ovaltine into a glass of milk when my hand slipped and I spilled the milk onto my corduroys.

But how would things have turned out differently for me if I had been more careful? This is a subject I’d LOVE to explore in a novel I’d call The Day the Chocolate Cried.

(Hey, what do you mean that’s not a “major historical event”? It took me FOREVER to get that stain out!)

Photo of Mandy Moore at a 

World Toilet Day event from REUTERS.

Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Over at her excellent blog, author/artist/cool person Tina Nichols Coury has a post up about The Big Book of Gross Stuff! It reads, in part:

I passed this gem around at a family gathering recently and all the boys from ages 8 to 80 ate it up!  If you have a boy who is a reluctant reader buy him this book…[it] manages to make me cringe and howl with laughter practically on every page…The book is organized in an easy, readable way with fun and descriptive illustrations from Russell Miller. This is one of the most hilarious, adorable, potty-humor books of fun facts (and some made-up facts) that I've seen in a long time. 

Did you see that? This book is adorable AND gross. There should be an award for pulling that off! Many thanks for the kind words, Tina.

POP! Magazine

Pop! is "Canada's adventure magazine for kids." (Hey, I like all of those things!)

Anyway, the new issue of Pop! has a review of The Big Book of Gross Stuff, namely:

Thanks, Pop!