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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
With the new school year on the horizon, I'm going through my boxes of children's books in storage and found Diary of a Worm. Who knew the inner thoughts of a burrowing invertebrate animal could be so relatable to kids? Your teacher gets on you for losing eating your homework. Your mom gets on you for making fun of your sister. But at the end of the day, it's all about making your own mark on the ecosystem.
Good for as a mentor text for writing or for a unit on worms/insects.
Good for as a mentor text for writing or for a unit on worms/insects.
Highlights of the day to day life of a worm.This book was really funny and oh so adorable. I loved it! It's always great to find a children's book that can make adults laugh. Definitely one of my new favorites!
Um, it's the Diary of a Worm. The story is cute. I don't think I have ever considered what the average day of a worm is before this book!
Kids will love this one. It's got a few gross things in it but it will spark some conversation about how important worms are.
Kids will love this one. It's got a few gross things in it but it will spark some conversation about how important worms are.
Diary of a Worm is by the author of Click Clack Moo and is a book Sean has had since he was an infant. We recently reorganized his bookshelf and rediscovered this gem among his library.
The Diary of a Worm chronicles the life and times of a young earth worm who is in school. Like most school kids he has tons of homework, has dreams of what he wants to be when he grows up, makes art projects in school and so forth. All these things would be pretty mundane except that he's a worm.
The humor of the situation comes in the illustrations by Harry Bliss. He brings home the punchline with things like the macaroni necklace that is just one noodle, sleeves on costumes when worms don't have arms, and so forth.
The Diary of a Worm chronicles the life and times of a young earth worm who is in school. Like most school kids he has tons of homework, has dreams of what he wants to be when he grows up, makes art projects in school and so forth. All these things would be pretty mundane except that he's a worm.
The humor of the situation comes in the illustrations by Harry Bliss. He brings home the punchline with things like the macaroni necklace that is just one noodle, sleeves on costumes when worms don't have arms, and so forth.
Upon further reflection, changed rating from 3 to 4 stars due to humor.
In Diary of a Worm, Doreen Cronin chronicles the humorous adventures and thoughts of a young boy worm who shares many of the same concerns as human children. This humorous offering shares diary pages from the spring season of the unnamed worm’s life. The little worm shares with the reader his day-to-day adventures, including his mother’s advice (“Never bother Daddy when he’s eating the newspaper”), his adventures with his friend Spider, the dangers of being a worm (“Hopscotch is a very dangerous game.”), and the worm version of sibling rivalry (“My older sister thinks she’s so pretty. I told her that no matter how much time she spends looking in the mirror, her face will always look just like her rear end.”). These topics and many more are touched upon in the book, as the reader discovers that worms have good and bad days, just like the rest of us.
The writing is presented in the form of diary entries, with the young worm giving us a first person perspective on his life. Each entry can be viewed as a tiny narrative, while the book as a whole does not really have a long-term plot or story arc. A sense of completion is provided at the end of the book, however, when the worm tells us that although worms may be small, “the earth never forgets we’re here.”
While some of the worm’s adventures are unique to his species, such as the need to hide from fishermen searching for bait, overall young children will be able to relate to his problems. He fights with his sister, teases little girls, competes with his friend Spider, and dreams of what he hopes to become when he grows up – in his case, a Secret Service agent. All of the worm’s diary entries are warm and humorous, and children will likely get a big kick out of seeing familiar themes from their lives get replayed in the worm world. They may also find it interesting to consider the world from a worm’s perspective.
Harry Bliss’s watercolor illustrations add charm and appeal and unify with the humorous nature of the text. The artwork is somewhat cartoon-like, however, the reader is still treated to fairly detailed backgrounds and settings. Detail work in the art adds another layer of humor and depth to the story. On the title page, for instance, we see that the “i” in “diary” is formed by a picture of a pencil, while the “o” in “worm” is a picture of our worm protagonist curled into a circle. In another example, the worm complains about his homework, and we see him lugging a leaf behind him carrying his books, which are labeled “Digging: A History” and “Soil Through the Ages” – topics that worm education might center upon. Because the text is presented in diary form, we are not given any written description or explanation of what the worm world looks like, how things are accomplished etc. This part of the storytelling is accomplished through the pictures. We know the worm goes to school, for example, but the illustrations of him working at a desk fashioned out of a mushroom while he sits on a bottle-cap chair, eating his lunch of soil and dirt off of a leaf plate, and dragging his books behind him on a leaf-like “backpack” really fleshes out the text.
This is a delightful and entertaining book that children ages four to eight should really enjoy.
The writing is presented in the form of diary entries, with the young worm giving us a first person perspective on his life. Each entry can be viewed as a tiny narrative, while the book as a whole does not really have a long-term plot or story arc. A sense of completion is provided at the end of the book, however, when the worm tells us that although worms may be small, “the earth never forgets we’re here.”
While some of the worm’s adventures are unique to his species, such as the need to hide from fishermen searching for bait, overall young children will be able to relate to his problems. He fights with his sister, teases little girls, competes with his friend Spider, and dreams of what he hopes to become when he grows up – in his case, a Secret Service agent. All of the worm’s diary entries are warm and humorous, and children will likely get a big kick out of seeing familiar themes from their lives get replayed in the worm world. They may also find it interesting to consider the world from a worm’s perspective.
Harry Bliss’s watercolor illustrations add charm and appeal and unify with the humorous nature of the text. The artwork is somewhat cartoon-like, however, the reader is still treated to fairly detailed backgrounds and settings. Detail work in the art adds another layer of humor and depth to the story. On the title page, for instance, we see that the “i” in “diary” is formed by a picture of a pencil, while the “o” in “worm” is a picture of our worm protagonist curled into a circle. In another example, the worm complains about his homework, and we see him lugging a leaf behind him carrying his books, which are labeled “Digging: A History” and “Soil Through the Ages” – topics that worm education might center upon. Because the text is presented in diary form, we are not given any written description or explanation of what the worm world looks like, how things are accomplished etc. This part of the storytelling is accomplished through the pictures. We know the worm goes to school, for example, but the illustrations of him working at a desk fashioned out of a mushroom while he sits on a bottle-cap chair, eating his lunch of soil and dirt off of a leaf plate, and dragging his books behind him on a leaf-like “backpack” really fleshes out the text.
This is a delightful and entertaining book that children ages four to eight should really enjoy.
Thoroughly enjoyed and giggled through this entire series of "Diary of..." books. Doreen Cronin is a genious! Very imaginative.
This book cracked me up. Of course I was reading it with a few 4th graders who had loved it when they were smaller and got all excited when they saw it in a pile of books we had for the library. Their enthusiasm was contagious but really...a worm doing the Hokey Pokey? I nearly fell off my chair when he tells his sister, as she is admiring herself, that her face will always look like her rear end. Yes, I was easily amused today. Regardless, this is one fun picture book.
I thought this was a really cute story and such a great idea! I don't think my kindergartners appreciated the cleverness of the story as much as I did, but we were able to discuss things like being kind to our friends, accepting our differences, and being polite.
Funny book! Carson liked the *gross* (but not too gross for mom!) parts. Clare thought the conversations between the worm and the spider were funny!