Do you want to hear something gross about koalas?

A second grader requested a few books about koalas last week for an upcoming "research project."  I found one on shelf and placed three more books on hold for her.  

Today she came in to pick up her holds.  I told her the holds were kept over on the adult side and walked her over to the holds shelf and showed her how to find them.

While we were there she asked me if I wanted to hear something gross about koalas.  I tried changing the subject but to no avail.

She really wanted to tell me something gross about koalas.

So I asked her to whisper it in my ear.  I leaned over and she cupped her fingers around her mouth and giggled like she had a juicy secret to share.

Just a few inches from my ear, she could no longer contain her excitement and loudly shouted, "baby koalas eat their mommy's poop!"

Because we were standing by the holds shelves, which were smack dab in the middle of the adult section, and it was a busy time of day, about a dozen heads whipped toward us all at once.

Meanwhile the little girl began hooting loudly while she waited for my reaction.  So I said, "well that's certainly a surprise, isn't it?" as I looked at the disapproving faces surrounding us.  A few people nodded gamely, one lovely soul gave a small chuckle, and everyone else shot us looks of disgust and hurried away.

And it was a surprise.  A very loud surprise.