Poo on you! LiterallyFontaine the pigeon is fed up with screen-obsessed humans' obliviousness to the world, so he convenes a meeting of the birds. Their unanimous decision: Drop poo on malefactors who glance down at their phones. "Targets" will be forced to look up after bombardment! Following the first "hit," a mother quickly glances up, curious about "that bizarre scream," because Fontaine has issued a battle cry-"VIVA LA REVOLUTION!" No screen remains untouched because, when someone glances down, "a glob of bird poop" knocks their phone to the ground. Finally, a child says, "I think these birds want us to give these phones a rest." Everyone realizes they've forgotten nature, the importance of using their words-and each other. The moral: Thank the birds, and "when you are outside, keep your phone in your pocket…and your eyes up and wide." Children will giggle at this tongue-in-cheek rhyming tale, set in New Orleans, and will hopefully get the point, which applies to adults, too: Screen time should be minimized and engaging with the world optimized. While the consequences outlined here are mined for exaggerated humor, this serious idea should spark conversations. The colorful, graphic novel–like illustrations are appealing and incorporate creative typefaces and speech bubbles; human characters are diverse.Much-needed encouragement to look up and see the world!(Picture book. 5-8)

Gr 1–3— The kids will not see this coming. Start the story hour with any of Mo Willems's "Pigeon" books, then show them what pigeons can really do—especially when they collaborate. Fontaine, the pigeon, is dismayed by the hordes of people below his perch staring into their screens and ignoring the fabulous teeming life all around them. Fontaine "got so tired of all the insanity. He dreamed up all the ways he could wake up humanity." It's actually just one way: He organizes all the other pigeons to do what they do best—perfect for gross-out loving children—in a targeted effort to take out the screens, one by one. The gloppy mess they fire, with astonishing accuracy, makes one person suggest that perhaps the birds are trying to tell them something. Lesson learned, and there is dancing in the streets. This tale is told in Gondolfi's casual rhyming text; the goal is not perfect scansion but the compelling idea, its execution, and the revolution itself. Romanick's art offers many hilarious moments, with a diverse street crew, a wide array of birds/comrades, and suspense as the first "bomb" is dropped. VERDICT Pure silliness, this is sure to be popular with the early elementary set.— Ginnie Abbott