Uncle John's Smell-O-Scopic Bathroom Reader For Kids Only!

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader for Kids

by Bathroom Readers' Institute

Who really “nose” what kids want to read? Uncle John!2014 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Gold Winner in Young Nonfiction (8-12 Years)!It’s wacky and fun! It’s easy to read! It’s a whole new twist on learning! And it’s FOR KIDS ONLY--boys, girls, kids who like to read, kids who don’t, kids with noses, nosey kids, kids who pick their noses…even grown up kids. Anyone who opens Uncle John’s Smell-O-Scopic Bathroom Reader will find page after page of fascinating facts and tantalizing true stories about science, history, pop culture, sports, amazing kids, goofy grownups, and (hold your noses…) disgustingly smelly things!Part of the Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader FOR KIDS ONLY series, this illustrated edition features such topics as... * The World’s Smelliest Ghosts * The Founding Father who Farted Proudly * A Mama Mutt that Adopted a Human Baby * South Africa’s Snake Girl * The Abominable Crustacean * Cleopatra’s Beauty Tips * An Artist Who Sculpts with Toenail Clippings, Plus…riddles and jokes, quotes and quizzes, brainteasers, word-origins, and much, much more!Uncle John’s Smell-O-Scopic Bathroom Reader includes story lengths to fit any attention span (or accommodate any duration of Throne Time)--“short” (one page), “medium” (two pages), and “long” (three to five pages)--and they’re all fun, informative, and educational. If you drink milk while reading this book, it may come out of your nose. 

Genres: Childrens, Humor

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

The Bathroom Reader's Institute UJBR boasts more than 12 million books in print and a membership base topping 40,000 loyal readers . . .

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars
If you have any knowledge of Uncle Johns Bathroom Readers then you know they are full of useless trivia and gross out accounts of human nature. And they are completely addictive. This reader designed for kids has a variety of topics that each have a mini, a short, and a bit longer components that make it easy reading for those with the shortest attention span. Plus with current references kids will find it fun and relevant to their age.

[Renee · Rating 2 out of 5]

My son (7) and I read and reviewed this book for Mother Daughter Book Reviews. Here are our thoughts:

SON SAYS:

This book has a bunch of information about all kinds of stuff like astronauts don’t wear underwear in space. Some of the information was cool and interesting, but it was mostly at the bottom of the page in small writing. I didn’t finish reading it because it was not that interesting. There are barely any pictures in the book. I wish there were more.

Some of the jokes were funny like this one:

There’s a boy named Larry who lost his dog and his friend, Harry says “If you want to find your dog, you should put an ad in the paper.” Larry answers “Don’t be silly, my dog can’t read.”

A lot of the information was not really appropriate like “The Poop Quiz” and the book has a bunch of not nice words like “dumbest”. I didn’t think that the book was that appropriate and I didn’t really like it, but there were some jokes that I liked and some cool facts like pandas, koalas, and raccoons are all in the same family. Maybe some other boys might like it, but I didn’t.

MOM SAYS:

One year for Christmas, my sister-in-law gifted our family Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader for adults. Ok, so it’s entertaining. These books feature short snippets of information, stories, fun facts, and so on. Let’s call it a casual read. So, Uncle John has now expanded to the kids’ market. Hmmm….

First of all, I don’t believe that the book is intended for children my son’s age (7). According to Amazon, it is intended for children between the ages of 8 and 12. This very thick book (at 288 pages) is text heavy and light on illustrations. In all honesty, I don’t think it will maintain the interest of many children in the intended age range.

Now let’s talk about the information. I flipped through the book with my son and I agree with him – much of the the information may not be of great interest to children. I randomly opened the book to a spot and came upon a section about female cartoon characters from the early to mid-1950′s.

Betty Boop – 1930

During the Great Depression, Americans didn’t have a lot to smile about. Jobs, food, and housing were hard to come by. So animator Max Flesicher created the adorable flapper with more heart than brains, Betty Boop, to cheer them up. Inspired by pop singer Helen Kane, Betty was a cartoon sex symbol, with pin curls, long lashes, and giant hoop earrings. She even showed up in a few Popeye cartoons and stole the show from the spinach-eating sailorman.

Let’s discuss everything that’s wrong with this paragraph. First, let’s pretend I’m an 8-year-old boy. Will I know what the Great Depression was? What’s a flapper? Did they just say “sex symbol”? Yes, they did. And finally, “pop music” was first coined in the 1950′s.

Need I say more? Importantly, I think my son says it all. Also, it should be noted that my 10-year-old daughter flipped through the book briefly, put it down, and was not remotely interested in it.

My Bottom Line:

I would say that Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader is an entertaining, albeit very light read for adults. The Kids’ version is text dense, contains some inappropriate as well as inaccurate information, and suffers from a lack of illustrations which puts me in the awkward position of saying that I cannot really recommend it when I feel there are so many great “fun facts” children’s books out there on the market.

* This book was provided to us by the author free-of-charge in exchange for our honest review. *

[Sharon Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uncle John's Smell-O-Scopic Bathroom Reader for Kids Only! by Bathroom Readers' Institute is a fun and unique collection of facts and stories that can be read and enjoyed in even the shortest time limits. There are one line factoids about everything from pop culture to science, and disgusting facts. There are also larger bits of information that will interest even the most reluctant readers of all ages.

I requested Uncle John's Smell-O-Scopic Bathroom Reader for Kids Only! from NetGalley on a whim, and was glad I did. While this is not the most interesting or enlightening book I have ever read, it held a unique and widely varied collection of facts. I found myself learning new things about science and history that I thought I should have already known, and gleaned some less necessary and slightly more 'eww' worthy tidbits that will help me interest and entertain my son as he gets older.

Uncle John's Smell-O-Scopic Bathroom Reader for Kids Only! is a wacky collection of facts and stories that gives readers exactly what they would expect when they see the cover. The facts include everything for bits about sports, jokes, bodily functions, pop culture, word origins, insects, history, and any number of completely unexpected and unrelated topics. A wonderful bit of reading in sport bursts of time, and to glean facts to amaze or disgust others with later.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bathroom Reader’s Institute has come up with a great book with Uncle John’s Smell-O-Scopic. Perfect for when you need a short read or something to keep your mind occupied for a little while, Smell-O-Scopic has 1to 3 page stories, small tidbits and 1 sentence factoids. It is organized by topic such as Bathroom Lore or Amazing Kids but you can also look up stories by length. This organization is available in the table of contents but does not follow through in the book. I was not always sure how story order was decided in the book. Like most bathroom readers, it is not meant to be read straight through.
Regardless, I was laughing out loud reading this book and I couldn’t resist reading out the humorous things I learned to whoever would listen. I especially enjoyed the tale of the purple squirrel and learning the meaning of aptronym. My favorite factoid is that apparently geese can be taught to herd sheep. This was a really fun book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys trivia and wacky tales. 5/5 stars

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 13 year old daughter actually asked to read this book first and has proceeded to point out all sorts of facts on every other page. She really enjoyed the book and kept reading parts out loud to anyone that would listen. I must thank both the author and goodreads for sending this book to our family in a giveaway and I can honestly say that it is a great book that I think anyone can enjoy! Thanks a bunch :)

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received a copy from NetGalley.

Wacky fun for those who love weird facts of all kinds, amusing stories and a little bathroom talk. Older kids will especially love this and will laugh, laugh, laugh and may even try a few of the quizes and tricks. I would recommend for those kids who love Ripley's Believe It or Not, Guiness World Records, Kids Alamanac or just facts in general.

[Terryann · Rating 3 out of 5]

a lovely addition to the bathroom readers' institute series. there are a zillion little factoids stories and more about everything in the world that smells:) kids will love the gross, the zany and the weird all in little snippets that can be read in the bathroom or anywhere.

[Ilib4kids · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Uncle) J081.0207 UNC
p208 Child Prodigies Nancy Yi Fan, "Sword Mountain"

[Ardie]

Read enough of this to get a good idea of what it’s like so I can recommend it when doing readers advisory, but didn’t have the time to finish it.