POOP FOUNTAIN!

Lyle is a middle- schooler who lives in a trailer park with his loving parents.  His days are predictable and somewhat boring.  When one of the middle-schoolers, Miranda, moves into the trailer park community and when his friend Dave comes to visits them, things change for the better.  Lyle and his new friends quickly become inseparable and decide to name their trio The Qwikpick Adventure Society.  What could their first adventure be? 

When school resumes, the trio learns that the waste water treatment facility in their area is about to undergo a major sewage upgrade: the dated "sludge fountain" is scheduled to be replaced with new equipment.  Eager to see the fountain in action, the kids make plans to check it out on Christmas Day, while Lyle's parents are working.  With a new camera in hand, they journey to the treatment facility.  Along the way they become increasingly aware of the happenings in their community and they realize what a larger treatment facility truly means; those with less means will need to make way for the coming developments. 

The Qwikpick Paper Poop Fountain was mountains of fun and is a quick read.  The trio learn to have fun without handheld, electronic devices as part of their time together- a lesson that many parents will appreciate.  Tom Angleberger's inclusion of visiting a sewage treatment facility is unique, and including the economic effects of land development gives the book more depth than expected.  The colorful descriptions of the treatment facility are not for the faint of heart.

For 4th grade and up.