We keep book titles on a short leash

Giving a book a title is a tricky process. Calling it something boring — say, “Gardening in Mukilteo” — and you’re doing yourself no favors. Give it an interesting name — anything, say, with the words “Harry Potter” in it — and you’ve got yourself a winner.

One of the more interesting book titles that I’ve stumbled across lately is on a children’s book. Written by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray, and illustrated by Audrey Colman, the book title uses what some people would label an objectionable word. We have a policy here at The Spokesman-Review that prevents me from typing in the actual word. For that, you’ll have to click here .

For those of you whose computers don’t allow you to make such jumps, let’s just say that the book is about a dog. And the book is about what that dog, named Walter, does as a natural bodily function. Kotzwinkle/Murray/Colman’s book has similarities with this other classic of children’s literature, Taro Gomi’s “Everyone Poops.”