Waist-Deep in Dung

Starred review from January 15, 2024
What's the worst possible job you can imagine? The team that brought you Dung for Dinner (2020) follows up with a similarly gross look at unpleasant but often necessary occupations. Throughout history, some have been tasked with dealing with blood, sickness, death, vomit, pee, and poop, not just as parents or family members but as lifelong jobs. In this roundup, Virnig addresses readers directly; her playful prose centers on the gritty and gross details. Each of the 16 chapters covers a different specialty, including ancient Egyptian mummy makers, leech collectors, barber-surgeons, forensic entomologists, modern-day medical caretakers, and people who excavate, dissect, and watch over bodies to confirm that death has occurred. She describes an ancient Roman banquet as a "puke party" that someone has to clean up, which gives her the opportunity to talk about slavery in that society. Her chatty narrative is especially sympathetic to the people who collect poop: gongfermors in the Middle Ages, saltpeter men who extracted a vital ingredient for gunpowder from outhouses in the 17th century, toshers who roamed Victorian London sewers, Chinese laborers who harvested guano in Peru in the 19th century, and Dalit scavengers in present-day India. Briggs' humorous sepia cartoon illustrations, often of people doing their jobs, add to the appeal. Full of the eww factor, the selection and presentation here are sure to engage readers. Appealingly and disgustingly informative. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

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March 15, 2024
Grades 4-6 Career-minded audiences may be happier with their modern options after this gleefully gross survey of occupations past, ranging from leech collector and barber-surgeon to poop-gathering "gongfermors" and such urine-based lines of work as cloth fulling and leather tanning. Along with detailing job descriptions with indecent relish, Virnig often pauses for lurid anecdotes about enemas, exhumed corpses that were buried prematurely, how maggots are still useful to forensic entomologists, and more. Though the author, and Briggs in his frequent cartoon sketches, plays the topic for gags and giggles, the tone repeatedly takes unexpectedly serious turns with references to how much of the revolting work was done by enslaved people, plus sobering reports on the modern persistence of "manual scavengers" in India, who collect human waste without protective gear, and of how even in this country there are many municipalities with dangerously inadequate sewer facilities. In effect, there are two books here: one that will leave readers hoping for a "nice, cozy, feces-free desk job," the other likely to stir concern for ongoing public health issues.

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August 30, 2024

Gr 4-7-Readers will learn about the most disgusting jobs in history in this title. The first part of this book focuses on jobs dealing with blood and medicine, such as resurrection men, Egyptian embalmers, leech collectors, and the jack-of-all-trades called a barber surgeon. Virnig's tone is conversational and fun while delivering facts about each of these unusual and frequently repulsive job opportunities. The second part includes even grosser jobs dealing with feces, urine, and vomit. Kids will find they could have been a dining room attendant who frequently cleaned the vomit of the attendees off the floor or a gongfermor who jumped into cesspits to clean out human waste. Part two includes information on tanners, grooms of the stool, and saltpeter men, among others. While the information in this title is engaging and interesting, the layout often hinders the flow of the text. Side bars are used in every chapter and sometimes take up an entire page, forcing readers to either stop in the middle of the text or skip the section and return to it later. Virnig warns readers in the introduction that this book is not for everyone. A table of contents, glossary, index, and bibliography are included. VERDICT Middle schoolers will enjoy the gross factor while learning of jobs seldom discussed. Recommended.-Lisa Buffi

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