Review: Here Comes the Poo Bus by Andy Stanton

Fifi and Boy were very kindly sent a copy of Here Comes the Poo Bus by Andy Stanton. It’s one of the most bizarre little poems you will ever read to your kids. Essentially the tale of Uncle Toad who collects insects for a special trip to the seaside on board his bus made of poo. Little do they know this is just a ruse and when they reach the seaside Uncle Toad has a feast.

You’ll either love this book or hate it, I loved it, Fifi loved it from the first time we read it. However, we do both like a bit of grisly gruesomeness! The boy and the hubby were slightly traumatised and had to have a long discussion about the images of injured and decapitated insects. That said, they did read it every night for a week in a row. I think this book is appealing because the imagery and illustrations are frankly, absolutely disgusting, it’s truly horrid and disturbing and that’s what gives the the book an edge on some of the ‘safer’ toddler reads. I thought it was very clever. My one criticism is that the poem didn’t scan brilliantly in places, but that’s me being finickety.

All in all, I give it 8/10 the hubby would give it 5/10. As I say, you’ll either love it or hate it. If you want to find a bit more check out the Puffin Books website.