My Big Fat Smelly Poo Diary Tight Squeeze – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Humour, comic strip, easy read.
Children’s book title: My Big Fat Smelly Poo Diary Tight Squeeze.
Children’s author: Jim Smith.
Genre: Children’s Fiction, Graphic Novel.
Published by: Scholastic.
ISBN: 9780702334481.
Recommended for children aged: 7-12 year-olds.
First published: Paperback February 2025.
This children’s book is ideal for: reluctant readers as it comprises of three short cartoon style stories which follow each other in a timeline of just a few days.
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Our review:
It appears that the assignment set by Pedro’s teacher in book one of this series has stayed with him, as this is his second diary-style book. Pedro remains obsessed with two things throughout – winning a competition and poo! There is also, somewhat concerningly, a local shortage of toilet paper, which becomes a recurring theme across all three stories.
In My Brilliant and Amazing Invention, Pedro’s class are invited to invent something for their local supermarket to manufacture and sell. He is absolutely convinced his idea will be the best. Things, of course, do not go quite to plan, leading to the three friends needing to raise some money – and, amazingly, actually doing so!
My (Very Normal) Shopping Trip revolves around the aforementioned supermarket and a trip there with Pedro, his family, and friends, along with an unexpected diversion to a laser range conveniently located in the same building.
My Big Fat Smelly BIN NIGHT is about growing up and letting go of things – but, since this is Pedro we’re talking about, it also includes heaps of toilet roll middles and a preschool cardboard monster!
Our verdict:
When I reviewed the first book in the series, I said, “This is a book to make parents shudder and kids laugh out loud,” and I’m pretty sure book two will have exactly the same effect! Ideal for reluctant readers, it is a quick, humorous read that could easily serve as a template for a class activity suitable for all levels and abilities.
The stories do carry underlying messages, including learning to admit your fears and dealing with disappointment, but the main reason for reading these is pure enjoyment. There is no requirement to have read the previous book in the series.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- Do you like the continuity between the two books? The storylines and illustrations are both by Jim Smith. How important is it that everything looks the same in both books?
- Do you write a diary? If you could make it look like this, would you be more likely to keep going for longer than if you were just writing everything down?
- How hard do you think it would be to make a second book as funny as the first? If you have read both of Pedro’s books, which did you enjoy the most? Do you know why?
- Draw yourself as you would appear in a comic strip. What would you look like? To make sure you always look the same, how simple does your artwork need to be?
- Many famous cartoon characters wear the same clothes all the time. Why do you think that is? How many examples can you think of?
Many thanks to Scholastic for the review copy.
To order a class set of this book, please click below to order via uk.bookshop.org, an organisation that supports local bookshops, or Amazon.co.uk.
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