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You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Poo!
Learn the surprising truth about just how important poo really is: it keeps our bodies healthy, and can also be used to power our cars, heat our homes and help grow our crops. You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Poo! is part of a brand-new science and technology strand within the internationally acclaimed You Wouldn't Want to Be series.
40 pages, Paperback
Published January 7, 2016
About the author
Alex Woolf
333 books47 followersAlex Woolf is a prolific, award-winning author of books for adults and children. In his non-fiction he has written on subjects as diverse as sharks, robots, asteroids, flying reptiles and chocolate. His novels span a range of genres, including crime, mystery, science fiction, historical fiction, steampunk and horror.
Alex is a regular author for Fiction Express, online publishers of interactive stories for schools. Fiction Express is read by more than 150,000 students from 20 countries. Two of his stories have won reader awards. In 2021, he won the prestigious ASE award for his non-fiction book Think Like a Scientist. His horror novel, Soul Shadows, was shortlisted for the Falkirk Red Book Award. Bestselling crime author Peter James described his novel Aldo Moon as “a real delight, witty, ghostly and at times deliciously ghastly”.
Alex is a regular author for Fiction Express, online publishers of interactive stories for schools. Fiction Express is read by more than 150,000 students from 20 countries. Two of his stories have won reader awards. In 2021, he won the prestigious ASE award for his non-fiction book Think Like a Scientist. His horror novel, Soul Shadows, was shortlisted for the Falkirk Red Book Award. Bestselling crime author Peter James described his novel Aldo Moon as “a real delight, witty, ghostly and at times deliciously ghastly”.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 3, 2025
This is a review of the Scholastic American edition. This is more of a 4.5 than a 5 star book, so I rounded up.
I really wish a book like this was available when I was a kid. Poop was a taboo topic, but it was interesting, mysterious, and doctors wanted samples at inconvenient moments. About 1987, pooping regularly became a national obsession, leading to fiber destroying the taste of a lot of meals. Where dogs pooped was a form of mild warfare.
The text of this little book was to the point, and full of facts. It didn't shy away from technical terms or large words. It did use more exclamation points than I like to see in a book, but that's a mild quibble. The text was divided into small blocks instead of in large columns. The information included stuff even I didn't know, despite decades of watching documentaries.
Inevitably, with any non-fiction over ten years old, some bits will be out of date. It seems panda tea (tea plants fertilized with panda poop) is no longer sold. The AshPooPie dog poop vacuum stick has apparently never made it to market, despite heavy promotion around 2012. (What happened to all the development money, hmm?)
There were practical tips, too. It mentions, for example, never to flush cat litter, how to dispose of dog poop, and how to make paper from elephant poop. Also, you never want to eat caso marzu cheese. Trust me on this.
Another small quibble was a key bit of missing information about the Bio-Bus (nicknamed the Poo Bus) than runs from Bristol to Bath. The Route number? 2. Why Woolf skipped the chance for a good joke, I'll never know.
Along with the text, there's a glossary, a Top Five Weirdest Uses of Poop list, and a poop timeline that you really shouldn't skip.
The three dimensional cartoons by David Antram were fantastic ... although many women had the tendency to look like Jo Brand. Occasionally, realism was used, such as for termites. His dog poop had an eery tendency to look as if they were sleeping bags with somebody inside of them.
All in all, a surprisingly enjoyable read. You can currently find this at the Internet Archive.
I really wish a book like this was available when I was a kid. Poop was a taboo topic, but it was interesting, mysterious, and doctors wanted samples at inconvenient moments. About 1987, pooping regularly became a national obsession, leading to fiber destroying the taste of a lot of meals. Where dogs pooped was a form of mild warfare.
The text of this little book was to the point, and full of facts. It didn't shy away from technical terms or large words. It did use more exclamation points than I like to see in a book, but that's a mild quibble. The text was divided into small blocks instead of in large columns. The information included stuff even I didn't know, despite decades of watching documentaries.
Inevitably, with any non-fiction over ten years old, some bits will be out of date. It seems panda tea (tea plants fertilized with panda poop) is no longer sold. The AshPooPie dog poop vacuum stick has apparently never made it to market, despite heavy promotion around 2012. (What happened to all the development money, hmm?)
There were practical tips, too. It mentions, for example, never to flush cat litter, how to dispose of dog poop, and how to make paper from elephant poop. Also, you never want to eat caso marzu cheese. Trust me on this.
Another small quibble was a key bit of missing information about the Bio-Bus (nicknamed the Poo Bus) than runs from Bristol to Bath. The Route number? 2. Why Woolf skipped the chance for a good joke, I'll never know.
Along with the text, there's a glossary, a Top Five Weirdest Uses of Poop list, and a poop timeline that you really shouldn't skip.
The three dimensional cartoons by David Antram were fantastic ... although many women had the tendency to look like Jo Brand. Occasionally, realism was used, such as for termites. His dog poop had an eery tendency to look as if they were sleeping bags with somebody inside of them.
All in all, a surprisingly enjoyable read. You can currently find this at the Internet Archive.
May 6, 2016
More than I ever expected to know about poop. This book is likely to be a big hit at our library among 2-4 graders, but I even had my co-workers "yucking it up" . I 'm thinking of using it during this summer's reading program. The theme is "On your mark, Get set...READ!" Maybe I can call the event, "On your mark, Get set, GO: Ways we go from beginning to end." The book is perfect for short attention spans, visually fun and appealing, funny, informative and gross. A great bathroom read ;)
March 31, 2018
My kids were intrigued by a “potty word” book (Lol) and we ALL learned something (including me!). With vivid illustrations and easy to understand text, it’s a great book (and series) for kids to learn about their world around them, history, important people, etc.
June 23, 2016
Assyrians featured semi-prominently in this book, and for that, I am extremely proud. You Wouldn't Want to Live Without is a fun and informative series for kids (and even some adults).
November 4, 2017
Well...I learned much more about poop than I bargained for. But it was interesting and funny. And I seriously learned some shi...er...stuff.
January 28, 2018
Informative, good illustrations, humorous.
October 27, 2018
In case you ever wanted to know more about poop....
July 29, 2025
Poop! Yes, poop. A book centered around poop. It is more important than you think and now, we can read about its importance, the history of poop, and why you can’t live without it. A nonfiction children’s book, I guarantee that you will learn something about poop before you get done reading it.
There are a dozen chapters in this book, an introduction, a glossary, and an index so this book can be used as a reference tool also. The last few pages of the book are full of fun interesting facts which along with the rest of the book make for some interesting reading. Let me entice you with some interesting facts: elephant poop is often used to fill up holes in the game reserve in South Africa, there is a dog park in Massachusetts that fuels their park’s street lamps with dog’s poop so don’t carry your dog’s poo out, dump into the convertor so you can see on your way home. Guess how many rabbit pellets a rabbit can poop in just 1 day? 500!
Now that I got you intrigued, this is just a bit of the fun and interesting information that is inside this book. You’ll learn what human and animal poop is, the hazards of poop, how the world uses it, and what we poop teaches us. Do you ever wonder, what happens to all the poo when individuals go to the bathroom? Does it go in space? Down inside the ocean or what? The answers are inside this book. The answers are not lengthy, and the author doesn’t use difficult terminology, yet this is not a book for preschool children. I think this is a good fit book for mature readers who have inquiring minds from the grade school level and up. The illustrations inside the book range from detailed drawings to cartoons explaining the text.
There are a dozen chapters in this book, an introduction, a glossary, and an index so this book can be used as a reference tool also. The last few pages of the book are full of fun interesting facts which along with the rest of the book make for some interesting reading. Let me entice you with some interesting facts: elephant poop is often used to fill up holes in the game reserve in South Africa, there is a dog park in Massachusetts that fuels their park’s street lamps with dog’s poop so don’t carry your dog’s poo out, dump into the convertor so you can see on your way home. Guess how many rabbit pellets a rabbit can poop in just 1 day? 500!
Now that I got you intrigued, this is just a bit of the fun and interesting information that is inside this book. You’ll learn what human and animal poop is, the hazards of poop, how the world uses it, and what we poop teaches us. Do you ever wonder, what happens to all the poo when individuals go to the bathroom? Does it go in space? Down inside the ocean or what? The answers are inside this book. The answers are not lengthy, and the author doesn’t use difficult terminology, yet this is not a book for preschool children. I think this is a good fit book for mature readers who have inquiring minds from the grade school level and up. The illustrations inside the book range from detailed drawings to cartoons explaining the text.
April 9, 2020
I read this as an adult with my children because as we all know, kids love talking about poop. I have to admit that this book impressed me with its scope. It provided plenty of facts, and I even learned a few things!
July 18, 2019
Well, THAT was interesting! In my opinion, if this gets your kid to read a book, then have at it. There’s nothing more than g-rated here.
September 11, 2023
I didn't know frozen s**t can fall on people from planes
October 25, 2023
My friend Shelley, a librarian, loves this book. Even though it's part of a series, she says without this book, the series is rather ho-hum.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews