31 Day, 31 Lists: 2023 Gross Books
Of all the lists that I present on a day-to-day basis in December, the one most likely to get replaced in the future is probably the gross books list. Still, I have an affection for these books. Kids absolutely adore these titles, and once in a while it’s a good idea for me to actually consider what a kid would enjoy reading. Particularly a kid drawn to that which disgusts. So while it may not win me any awards for literary excellence, here are the books that make you say, “UGH!!!” It runs the gamut from picture books to older nonfiction to graphic novels.
You can find a PDF of this list here.
If you’d like to witness the only other time I’ve ever done this list, you can do so here:
2023 Gross Books for Kids
Butt or Face? by Kari Lavelle
Think you can tell a butt from a face? Test your skills against an array of insects, amphibians, birds and beasts. We bet at least one of them fools you! Normally I don’t get overly fond of titles where the entire premise is right there in the title. But as I read through this cacophony of buttocks and kissers I had to admit that Lavelle knows what she’s doing. There are an awful lot of difficult-to-distinguish butts v. faces. Admittedly she cheats a little, sometimes just showing a section of an animal’s anatomy, but by the point she starts doing it, you really don’t care. I like the design of it too and the way in which the little facts are added along the sides for fun. Maybe not the most deep and insightful book up for consideration, but there is something to be said for fun (plus doesn’t that cover just invoke Everything Everywhere All At Once?).
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Darwin’s Super-Pooping Worm Spectacular by Polly Owen, ill. Gwen Millward
The Victorians were pretty sure that worms weren’t just gross, but utterly useless as well. It took Charles Darwin’s obsessive nature to prove that not only are worms important, but their poop is vital to nature! The most fun you can have with an invertebrate. Man. Polly Owen is toying with me. I’m this hard-nosed stickler for picture book nonfiction, right? I hate fake dialogue. I like my facts to be facts and not suppositions. All that stuff. So she goes and writes a book that is technically all-factual by skirting around the very edge of all my rules. For example, I don’t mind it when dialogue in speech bubbles is fake. Now in this book, Darwin is conducting experiments on the worms. I thought I could safely deem this book Informational Fiction when it showed him playing the piano, fife, and bassoon for the worms. But on the opposite page you actually see this little worm clarifying that, yes indeed, Darwin really did try out all those instruments with his invertebrates. The end result of this is a compelling (and oddly excrement-heavy) bit of good science wrapped in a gross-out package. Gwen Millward is also just going wacky with the art (the bassoon sequence is accompanied by what looks to be a disco floor complete with mirror ball). This is utterly ridiculous and, I’ll admit it, completely within the realm of fact. Kids will dig it (forgive me)
Eerie Tales from the School of Screams by Graham Annable
Davis and Emily’s teacher asks her students to tell her the creepiest stories they know. Buckle up as you read through this array of scary, gross, and occasionally terrifying tales! Truth be told, this feels like a Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons. Hard to believe that this is the same guy that gave us that adorable sloth-fixated GN series Peter & Ernesto. Annable has a real talent for just the right amounts of creepy and disturbing (please check out his Instagram account if you don’t believe me). And the array of types of creepy in this book are great. Space creep and folktale creep and contemporary creep. It helps too that the book features a kid listening to all this in a classroom, pointing out the inconsistencies. I thoroughly enjoyed this and I’ve no doubt your kid readers will too!
How to Eat in Space by Helen Taylor, ill. Stevie Lewis
Think eating in space is easy? Think again. Use this guidebook to food in space. What works, what doesn’t, and how to make more. Reminds me a bit of last year’s wonderful (and wonderfully gross) young reader’s edition of Packing for Mars. The art gets the job done, and I really like the text and the layout of the information here. It goes through a practical understanding of what it would take to eat in space in a clear and realistic way. The book probably missed a couple opportunities for fun facts (example: the whole reason we even know that tortillas are perfect space food is that we started sending someone other than white men into space). But I just really think kids are going to get a kick out of this. It’s fun and funny at the photos at the end are a thrill. And yes. It’s also gross.
Jawbreaker by Christina Wyman
Max Plink is a 7th grader with a severe overbite, braces, and now headgear nicknamed “the jawbreaker.” She faces bullying at school, lots of problems at home, and dreams of being a journalist. She’s invited to a journalism scholarship competition, but the application is on video. Well, I have a pronounced dislike of middle grade bully books, no question. And this is a dyed-in-the-wool Grade A bully book extraordinaire, so you KNOW it’s gotta be good if I’m recommending it. Wyman’s a talented writer and she just sucks you into this narrative. Extra points too for that cover, which makes it feel so approachable (though it does look a tad like a graphic novel). A good novel pairing with SMILE by Telgemeier too. So why is it on the gross list? Let’s just say that when you’ve got head gear like this, there’s going to be a bit more drool than you’re used to in the book.
Ketchup On My Sundae by Nelleke Verhoeff
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A companion to Verhoeff’s other board books, like this year’s Bruno Builder Bakes Bread. This is a mix-and-match book (if that is the technical term – I still don’t really know) intended for the preschooler crowd. Why do I say that? Because a kid needs to have at least a basic working knowledge of some of these foods for it to hit home properly. Otherwise you might create a sour cream waffle cone and not incur the proper “ewwwwwww!!”s. The top half of the book includes, well, toppings. “Zesty radish” or “salty feta”. The bottom half is what you’re putting those toppings on. “Pizza” or “Hot Chocolate”. I was pleased with the inclusion of foods on beyond the usual, like paella and couscous. There’s some real gross-em-out splendor on display!
The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri
Saved from a stoning by angry monks, a kid called Monkey is indebted to the fast-talking Samir, a merchant on the Silk Road. The problem? Seven hired assassins have Samir in their sights, and Monkey has a debt to pay. A plus but with some caveats! The last time Daniel Nayeri wrote a book it was of an ungodly length. This time it’s a slick 224 pages, which is much better. And the man’s a born storyteller, so there’s a lot to enjoy here. So what’s the problem? Well, some of the more complex ideas that go on in this book had me, a grown adult, rereading them several times to get the gist. I suppose that this is the book you could hand to one of those kids that claim they have read “every book in the library” and demand something more challenging. Obviously the man can string two sentences together with particular skill, and I liked the twists and the ending a lot (it really picks up when the assassins start showing up). Why is it on the “Gross” list? I’ve got two words for you: severed ear. You figure out the rest.
The Night Raven (The Moonwind Mysteries) by Johan Rundberg, translated by A.A. Prime
In 1880 Stockholm, orphan girl Mika leads a rough life. She also possesses gifts that would make her a first-rate forensic scientist. Can she solve a bunch of scary crimes? A gritty thriller that has won awards in Sweden. Oo! I’m always buying Swedish murder thrillers for the adults of my library, so it’s kind of amazing to see a kid-friendly-ish version here. I’m a sucker for a good detective novel and at first, as I read this, I had a hard time figuring out if this book was, indeed, a mystery. Then Mika started whipping out the Sherlock Holmesian observations and from that moment onward I was hooked. The author cleverly justifies why she would have these skills and (even more impressive) justifies why she’d want to help the inspector of this book with his investigations. If I’ve an objection it’s that there are still quite a few danging threads left about Mika’s own origins, but that didn’t mute my enjoyment of the text. Overall, this is a gripping ride. It’s also completely disgusting several times. I adored it all the more for that reason.
Unseen Jungle by Eleanor Spicer Rice, ill. Rob Wilson
Whether you’re an up-and-coming young scientist or just want a book with the grossest stuff in it, there’s a lot to love in this compendium of microbes and their unseen, highly disgusting, world. Sorry, folks. I hate to be the one to break the news but I found myself a nice super gross book for 2023 and I’m loving it. What’s the name of the game this time? Microbes! Specifically bacteria, fungi, protozoa, archaea, algae, super-tiny animals, and viruses (though Rice acknowledges that some scientists would say they don’t count). The book then systematically goes through every possible place you might encounter them. It gets two germ-encrusted thumbs up from me on the “yuck” factor, but you also learn a TON of info. For example, this may be the first time I’ve ever felt bad for flies. Read the book. You’ll see why.
Hope you enjoyed these! Here are the lists you can expect for the rest of this month:
December 1 – Great Board Books
December 2 – Picture Book Readaloud
December 3 – Simple Picture Book Texts
December 4 – Transcendent Holiday Picture Books
December 5 – Rhyming Picture Books
December 6 – Funny Picture Books
December 7 – CaldeNotts
December 8 – Picture Book Reprints
December 9 – Math Books for Kids
December 10 – Gross Books
December 11 – Books with a Message
December 12 – Fabulous Photography
December 13 – Translated Picture Books
December 14 – Fairy Tales / Folktales / Religious Tales
December 15 – Wordless Picture Books
December 16 – Poetry Books
December 17 – Unconventional Children’s Books
December 18 – Easy Books & Early Chapter Books
December 19 – Older Funny Books
December 20 – Science Fiction Books
December 21 – Fantasy Books
December 22 – Comics & Graphic Novels
December 23 – Informational Fiction
December 24 – American History
December 25 – Science & Nature Books
December 26 – Unique Biographies
December 27 – Nonfiction Picture Books
December 28 – Nonfiction Books for Older Readers
December 29 – Audiobooks for Kids
December 30 – Middle Grade Novels
December 31 – Picture Books
Filed under: 31 Days 31 Lists, Best Books, Best Books of 2023
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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Gross books are not my favorite but I sure think they are important and need to be available for children who do love them. This year JAWBREAKER was one I read thanks to your recommendation and my personal history with childhood braces, headgear, rubber bands, etc. I had not known about the type of conditions this book deals with and found the reading very informative as well as a great story. In no way would I agree with its inclusion here as a “gross” book but I’m delighted others will learn about it today.
You didn’t find the drool gross? I thought it was awesome, and vile. And the whole process of wearing the headgear?
Nope. Headgear is like a leg brace or sling when healing from shoulder surgery. Not attractive for sure but not gross. My pillow is an indication that sometimes I drool when asleep. I thought everyone does this. Babies drool. This is just a normal body function. Not pretty but I don’t find it gross. Perhaps our difference in viewpoint is due to my lack of experience with children. I know there are many things youngsters find gross.