Nasty facts about nasty creatures are dragged out, alongside puzzles and games, plus all sorts of wind-related human facts, right down to how much gas the average stomach releases - either up or down - in a day.
If you've ever wondered just how
much methane a cow produces in a year or how loud the loudest ever belch was, then this is just the book for you.
Just as enjoyable is the admirable Big Pants, Burpy and Bumface by Russell Ash (Red Fox, £4.99), a book which will make you lament your own slightly-boring name even as you squirm in embarrassment for all those that have gone before with absolute shockers.
There really was someone called Mona Lott; Harry Nobody is only marginally better than Absolutely Nobody; and one wonders whether Big Nose justified his name - ditto Mr N Obrain. Bernard Pathetic sounds rather tragic; and Ima Pain probably had much to compensate for.
The names go on… and on and on and on, and if there's a downside to the book, it's that it's really not much more than a list, though at least a list creatively arranged.
Inevitably the Toilet Titters section contains some crackers. You have to feel for Urina Buckett and Lou Paper, but isn't there something slightly noble about the magnificent Magnolia Fart? Definitely my favourite.
Meanwhile the Gargoylz have been on prolific form with three books out. Gargoylz Make a Movie by Burchett & Vogler (Red Fox, £4.99) is accompanied by Gargoylz Summer Fun and Gargoylz To The Rescue, each a lovely little read for five to seven-year-olds.
The ghastly-rubber toy with each one will leave the book looking slightly incomplete once it is removed - which would annoy me. It's gimmicky and tricksy, but the books themselves are great, easy reads, but full of fun and packed with things that can't fail to appeal to their target audience.
In Gargoylz Make A Movie, Max has got his hands on a video camera and he and Ben have big plans to make their very own movie - with the Gargoylz in starring roles, of course. But will bully Barry the Basher spoil the show, or can the boys outwit him with the help of the Gargoylz and a super-cunning secret plan?
Aimed at nine-11 year-olds Lyn Gardner's Out Of The Woods (David Fickling Books, £5.99) is, as you might expect, very much in the quality-writing category.
The fun fair is in town. With its clouds of pink candyfloss and whirling big wheel, what child could resist such temptation? Little do the Eden sisters know that they are being lured into a wicked witch's lair…
Barely escaping from a deadly game of hide-and-seek in the enchanted fair, the three heroines flee through the woods, with several ravenous wolves and a sweet-toothed lion hot on their heels. But now they face their biggest challenge yet. Will the Eden sisters ever truly be out of the woods?
It's a book full of invention, with lively characters that leap off the page and a storyline which paces itself beautifully towards its satisfying conclusion.
Katie Morag just keeps on going. The latest title if Katie Morag And The Big Boy Cousins (Mairi Hedderwick, Red Fox, £5.99), and if you've already dabbled in the series, you can be sure you'll be getting more of the same.
Young girls love them, with Katie Morag's spirit of adventure - all within the cosy confines of her well-ordered island - the big appeal. The illustrations are annoyingly cutesy, just as they have always been, but for the fans, they're all part of the attraction.
Katie Morag And The Wedding (Red Fox, £6.99) comes complete with Mairi Hedderwick herself reading the story on a CD, a sweet addition for those in need of yet more sweetness.
Already the 2011 albums have started coming out, and there are two particularly good ones this year. The Adventures Of Merlin: The Official Album (Bantam Books, £7.99) should sate all your magical longings, with a pleasing mix of variations on the Merlin theme, from stories to quizzes via games and colouring - in fact, all the classic album staples, each given a magical twist.
It's all things Shrek in the Shrek Forever After Annual 2011. It was a cracking film, and much of the fun is recreated in the album format, again across all the kinds of things you would normally expect to find in an album (Bantam Books, £7.99).
Meanwhile, as relentless as Katie Morag, the pastel shades of Princess Poppy carry on regardless with yet another couple of titles to make any little boy's heart sink - and any little girl's heart rise.
The Birthday and Playground Princess, both £6.99 from Picture Corgi and both with CDs (one read by Tamzin Outhwaite, one read by Tamsin Greig), are simple tales, simply told by a master of this kind of book, Janey Louise Jones. Both are beautifully illustrated in the most appealing of styles.
Finally, The Runaway Troll by Matt Haig (Corgi Books, £6.99) taps into all the on-going troll/magic/post-Potter/post-Tolkien obsessions to come up with a ripping yarn.
When one troll boy escapes the forest to be with his favourite human, Samuel Blink, the Betterer is not very happy. Until he realises that the most useful thing to have in his Bettering Tower would be a real life human child. So he places his Bettering Branch and Gripgrass Juice in his pockets and sets out on a quest into the human world beyond the forest to kidnap Samuel and the troll friend he's been hiding in his wardrobe...
A good read - and above all, well written, it's fast, funny and gripping.
Phil Hewitt
