Leya’s charming, hilarious picture book approaches the bodily functions that so often ick kids out from a clear-eyed, scientific perspective, using the titular maxim to encourage children to see our inner workings as natural processes required for optimal health. The distinguished narrator, Professor Ewe—who dons a shirt reading “everything is relative”—guides readers through eight of “the grossest things our body parts DRIP and SPEW,” including mucus, poop, gas, saliva, urine, ear wax, sweat, and blood. The good professor sets out to un-yuck the processes that result in these discharges by explaining the science behind each bodily wonder. “Mucus,” for example, “helps your nose stay clean and stops dust and germs from getting through.”

However, Professor Ewe is not the only instructor. Leya’s illustrator, Janna Maru, depicts a whole menagerie of characters, featuring hippos, turtles, sloths, raccoons, dogs, birds, and more, that visually instruct readers on these physiological functions, but the illustrations are far more than instructive; they are also entertaining. In the sweat section, a host of animals, including a perspiring panda, enjoy an afternoon at the beach amid a pickleball tournament played with actual pickles instead of balls. In another clever instance, Professor Ewe takes a canoe ride into an ear canal, armed with a lantern and Q-tips.

These details, along with Professor Ewe’s rhymed narration, encourage engagement and repeat readings, but another stand-out component of Leya’s book is the concluding “Prof. Ewe Explains” discussion guide that offers a more detailed overview of each of the bodily processes and helpful similes. For example, “sweat... acts like your body’s own air conditioner,” and “poop... is like your body’s own garbage disposal!” Young children (and those who read to them) will delight in Leya and Maru’s combined brilliance and remember that “the next time mucus drips from your nose or you have a stinky fart” it’s just the body helping you be you.

Takeaway: Amusing, educational picture book that un-yucks the bodies’ vital processes.

Comparable Titles: Kim Norman’s Give Me Back My Bones!, Justine Avery’s Everybody Poops!.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A