Everyone Poops

Everyone Poops
Hardcover English 1st ed.
Author(s)	Tarō Gomi
Original title	Minna Unchi (みんなうんち)
Translator	Amanda Mayer Stinchecum
Illustrator	Tarō Gomi
Cover artist	Tarō Gomi
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Series	Kagaku no Tomo Kessaku-shū in Japan, My Body Science in the USA
Genre(s)	Children's non-fiction literature
Publisher	Kane/Miller (Eng. trans)
Publication date	1977
Published in English	March 1, 1993
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	27 pp[1]
ISBN	ISBN 978-0916291457 (first English edition, hardcover)

Everyone Poops is the title of US editions of the English translation (by Amanda Mayer Stinchecum) of Minna Unchi (みんなうんち^?), a Japanese children's book written and illustrated by the prolific children's author Tarō Gomi and 1st published in Japan by Fukuinkan Shoten in 1977 within the series Kagaku no Tomo Kessaku-shū (i.e. Masterpieces of the friends of science).

The English translation has been published in the US by Kane/Miller, within the series "My Body Science", and by Scholastic. In Britain, the book is titled Everybody Poos and is published by Frances Lincoln.

The book tells children that all animals defecate, and that they have always done so.

The book has also been translated into Spanish and Thai.

Story

Everyone Poops is essentially plotless.^[2] The first sixteen pages contain various prompts regarding defecation in animals such as opposites ("An elephant makes a big poop" and "[a] mouse makes a tiny poop"), comparisons (that various species produce various sizes and shapes of poop) and questions ("What does whale poop look like?").^[3][4]

On the seventeenth page, a nameless boy with black overalls and a red shirt is introduced, seen running into a bathroom. The book then goes on to explain how people of all ages, from adult to very young child, defecate, and how infants may use diapers.^[4][5] After that, there are only three more illustrations that lack the nameless overall-clad boy.^[6] The next page of the book, in which the child uses toilet paper and flushes the toilet, refers to the boy as "He", the only time in the story when the child is referred to as a singular entity (other accompanying images denote children in general, even though only the boy is shown).^[7][8] The final portion of the book explains that because every animal eats, it must therefore defecate, and the book ends with rear views of the boy and six different animals defecating and the words "Everyone Poops".^[9][10]

Publication

Everyone Poops was written by Tarō Gomi, and first published by Tokyo-based Fukuinkan Shoten as Minna Unchi in 1977.^[11]

Editions

• (Japanese) Minna Unchi (みんなうんち). Kagaku no Tomo Kessaku-shū (かがくのとも傑作集). Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten (福音館書店), 1977. For later printings, ISBN 4834008487. 28 pages in Japanese edition.^[12]
• (English) Everyone Poops. Trans. Amanda Mayer Stinchecum. My Body Science. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Kane/Miller, 1993. ISBN 0916291456.
• (English) Everyone Poops. Trans. Amanda Mayer Stinchecum. La Jolla: Kane/Miller, 2001. ISBN 192913214X. New York: Scholastic, 2004. ISBN 043972659X.
• (English) Everybody Poos. Trans. Amanda Mayer Stinchecum. London: Frances Lincoln, 2002. ISBN 0711220468. London: Frances Lincoln, 2004. ISBN 1845072588
• (Spanish) Todos hacemos caca. Trans: Leopoldo Iribarren. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Kane/Miller, 1997. ISBN 0916291774
• (Thai) ʻƯ. Krung Thēp: Samnakphim Phrǣo Phư̄an Dek, 1995. ISBN 9748920003. Krungthēp: ʻAmmarin, 2003. ISBN 9742470367.

Related topics

	Japan portal
	Children's literature portal

• Toilet training
• The Gas We Pass
• What's Your Poo Telling You?

References

1. ^ "Everyone Poops, My Body Science Series, Taro Gomi, Book". Barnes & Noble. 2009. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Everyone-Poops/Taro-Gomi/e/9780916291457. Retrieved 2008-02-14. 
2. ^ "Everyone should have a copy of Everyone Poops". Epinions. 2008-07-30. http://www.epinions.com/review/_2001675723/content_439193144964. Retrieved 2008-02-15. 
3. ^ Gomi 1993, pp. 1–16
4. ^ ^{a b} Gennari, Jennifer. "Book Review: Everyone Poops". Disney Family Entertainment. http://family.go.com/entertainment/article-csm-117740-book-review--everyone-poops-t/. Retrieved 2009-02-15. 
5. ^ Gomi 1993, pp. 18–19
6. ^ Gomi 1993, pp. 20–22
7. ^ Gomi 1993, p. 23
8. ^ Gomi 1993, p. 18
9. ^ Gomi 1993, pp. 24–27
10. ^ "「みんなうんち」" (in Japanese). EhonNavi. 2009. http://www.ehonnavi.net/ehon00.asp?no=178. Retrieved 2009-02-16. 
11. ^ "About Fukuinkan Shoten". Fukuinkan Shoten. 2008. http://www.fukuinkan.com/aboutus.html. Retrieved 2009-02-20. 
12. ^ http://www.fukuinkan.co.jp/bookdetail.php?isbn=978-4-8340-0848-7

External links

• My Body Science, Kane Miller