One Little Dung Beetle by Rhian Williams illustrated by Heather Potter and Mark Jackson

"One little dung beetle rolling up some poo, 
working very hard like a beetle likes to do."

In this clever jaunty rhyming, counting book we meet ten different beetles. MG Leonard, author of Beetle Boy, Beetle Queen and Battle of the Beetles would adore this book - hope it reaches her from Australia. (Note these are for readers aged 10+). Read about Beetle Boy here. And look for Masterpiece by Elise Broach - another wonderful reading experience. 

Now back to this book - yes, One Little Dung Beetle is told in rhyme and hooray the rhyme works so well. But this book is so much more. Yes, it is a counting book too, but it is also filled with rich words such as:

• nudges
• insistently
• drumming
• zooming
• glint
• breeze

And there are so many interesting beetles with more of them illustrated on the final pages - Pie Dish Beetle; Water Penny Beetle; Whirlygig Beetle; Texas Beetle; Jewell Beetle; Bombardier Beetle; and Tortoise Beetle. The ten special beetles from the main book are profiled on the final double spread and yes there are some of my favourites - the Christmas Beetle; Click Beetle; and Rhinoceros Beetle along with a new one (to me) the Feather Horned Beetle. Look out for the Ladybird on the end papers - yes she is a beetle too. And one more bonus - all of the beetles in this book are Australian or found in Australia! Special mention - the end papers are spectacular. Surely these will make you even more curious about beetles.

This book is another fabulous nonfiction discovery. This needs to be added to your school or preschool library - pop it on your list. It's not too expensive (thank goodness). AND I am certain we will see this book on the CBCA (Children's Book of the Year) 2025 Notables list and hopefully even the short list. Here are the teachers notes from the publisher Wild Dog.

With stunning endpapers, and accurate anatomical illustrations throughout, this offers an insight into the prevalence of beetles in the landscape and the critical role they perform in keeping it healthy and vibrant.  ... Give it with the gift of a magnifying glass and see the joy and wonder explode.  The Bottom Shelf

Here's another new counting book I talked about recently:

One Tiny Treefrog

And look for this one too:

Rex the Rhinoceros Beetle

And this one is essential reading:

Where are all the Christmas Beetles?

Babak the beetle by Fred Paronuzzi illustrated by Andree Pigent

Babak (he is called Gerard in the original French edition) is happily rolling his dung ball home. Babak is a dung beetle. He bumps into something that looks like an egg. In the spirit of "Are you my Mother?" Babak sets off to find the owner of the egg. Mrs Ostrich suggests he ask the birds of the forest. Mr Cuckoo cannot identify the egg even though he confesses he puts his own eggs into the nests of other birds. Next stop the swamp. Mrs Frog explains she lays thousands of eggs in big transparent piles. She suggests asking the snakes but Babak discovers this egg is not theirs. The snakes suggests taking a look on some nearby fields.

"There he saw heaps of eggs like his. The grass was covered with them ... "

You will need to find this book for yourself to read the joke on the last page.  It certainly was a surprise I enjoyed. Hint: check my labels for the answer if you cannot find this book in your local or school library.

I do like books that are translated from other languages. There was a sequel to Babak the Beetle but sadly it is not available in English. The title is Gerard and the Sticky Thing. If you can read French here are some other picture books illustrated by Andree Prigent.

Squiggle, Diddle, Plop! by Guundie Kuching

Tuesday Treasure

Poo or poop is popular topic with our younger readers. Squiggle, Diddle, Plop is perfect in so many ways. It is funny. It will spark curiosity (do wombats really have cube shaped poo?), the illustrations are a delight and one more thing - this book celebrates dung beetles.

Echidna produces a small brown poo. He shows platypus.

"Oh!' laughed Platypus.
'You've done a SQUIGGLE. 
I'll do one, too!"

And so the pattern is established. We meet Tiger Snake, Flying Fox, Frilled Lizard, Kookburra and Wombat. Their deposits are described as a quibble, a diddle, a plop, a swish, a twirly and a fuddy-duddy. The best page, though, is right near the end. Everyone has produced a poo but now what will they do? Echidna suggests they make a cake. Now the dung beetles can move in and do what they do best.

There are sure to be some other books illustrated by Guundie Kuchling in Australian school libraries. Guundie was born in Austria but now lives in Western Australia.

I have another post about poo.  Here is a site that shows photos of different animal scats if you need to do some background reading. You might also like to read some non fiction books on this topic. The two by Jill Bruce are perfect to read alongside Squiggle, Diddle, Plop!