Is It Okay To Pee In The Ocean?, STEM kidlit asks what we’ve all pondered

If you’re older than 12 trips around the sun then you know the answer to that, but you may not know why. Actually, you may not even know the answer to it, you’ve just stopped caring or have moved on to less bathroom-centric queries. Is It Okay To Pee In The Ocean? is the most comprehensive look at going number one that elementary school kids will experience. It’s a surprisingly entertaining STEM read and runs deep with scientific research and credibility, so much so that those middle school students will enjoy the book also.

Those ages will appreciate the fact that Is It Okay To Pee In The Ocean? balances the subject matter with humor, a conversational tone, and STEM-based realism. The elementary school ages will like the fact that someone is willing to talk about peeing with them. However, stay with those younger ages for just a moment, engage their curiosity, feed them a couple of jokes that are in the book, and see if you have their attention.

I bet that you will retain their attention. That’s due to the fact that the book’s chapters are broken up into smaller categories, complete with jokes, the history of urine, and the things that humans used to use urine for. The science of urine, how it’s created, the way that the body processes it and the way that food impacts it are covered too.

For example, phosphorus was discovered by Henning Brand, a German alchemist who was experimenting with urine. Ancient alchemists thought that urine that was more yellow in color would be able to turn metal into gold. Brand didn’t discover gold in them there urinary hills, but he find a color that never faded or burned out. Asparagus has a natural chemical in it called asparagusic acid. When our body tries to break that chemical down, it produces a by-product that we release in our pee that smells a bit worse than the average urine.

It’s not all about if it’s OK to pee in the ocean, if you’ve hung around this long in the review then you know that verdict is a big yes. The trick about the book-the number one reason, if you will, is that it answers the question and looks at the ancillary things that you might ponder. What about a pond? The swimming pool? The shower? What really pollutes the ocean? If the oceans never stop, why are they named differently and what are their boundaries? This book takes a one-trick pony and extends it to its STEM limits, but also keeps it fun enough for younger readers to share it because it’s just disgusting enough.

Elementary ages go through a stage where they parrot factoids about things. They’ll hear some innocuous fact about a thing, tell others about that thing, and then hopefully find out more about that thing. The reference books from Nat Geo Kids are usually considered the 500-pound gorilla in that category because of their snippet presentation.

Is It Okay To Pee In The Ocean? takes that sharable characteristic, turns it into an upper-elementary paragraph-level read, adds some illustrations, and covers a topic that every kid is curious about. They’re curious about it but often won’t ask too many questions about it because most adults won’t be able to answer them. “It’s where the body gets rid of excess waste”, is where my definition of urine stopped for my children. And while I wasn’t incorrect, there is so much more to explore about this everyday occurrence. This is gateway curiosity that can lead kids to any number of STEM conversations that will entertain, them as much as they will educate.

Is It Okay To Pee In The Ocean? The Fascinating Science of Our Waste And Our World is by Ella Schwartz with illustrations by Lily Williams and is available on Bloomsbury Children’s Books.

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