The review this week is Diary of a Worm. I LOVE this book.
Diary of a Worm...a fun children's book full of giggles!
Product Rating:
5 out of 5 starsPros: Fantastic text, Fantastic illustrations, Fun and Silly...a great children's book!
Cons: Nope!!
The Bottom Line: Diary of a Worm is a fantastic children's book that will have everyone laughing and enjoying the little worms adventures.
kamel622's Full Review: Doreen Cronin - Diary of a Worm After having a read a review of Diary of a Worm, a wonderful children's book, I knew I had to put a copy on hold at our library. I was so delighted when it was ready for pick-up.
The Story
This is the cute story of a handsome worm who keeps a diary and allows us to take a peek at it to follow what his days are like.
Now it might seem as if worms lead a rather boring life, but this book helped us to see that they actually have a very busy life with lots to do.
On the first two page spread we learn what our unnamed worm friend learns from his Mom.
March 20
Mom says there are three things I should always remember:
1. The earth gives us everything we need.
2. When we dig tunnels, we help take care of the earth.
3. Never bother Daddy when he’s eating the newspaper.
The diary goes on talk about things that the worm does, like teaching a spider to dig, trying to walk upside down like the spider, digging deeper because it is fishing season and using his good manners and saying good morning to the first ant he saw. He had to stand there all day though, because 600 ants followed that one.
Our worm friend has things he likes about being a worm, like not having to go the dentist, never getting in trouble for tracking mud in the house and not having to take a bath.
He also has things he doesn’t like. Not being able to chew gum, have a dog and all the homework. are a few of things that make being a worm a little less than enjoyable.
At the end of his diary his last notation is about people forgetting that worms are even here, but that the earth never forgets.
The Illustrations
The illustrations in this book are just as entertaining as the text is. The fun starts on the front cover of the book and each page is filled with hilarious drawings of the baseball capped worm and his family.
On the inside cover are family snapshots of things like a family vacation, and the worms first tunnel. The back cover has more photos including a snapshot of his mom and dad kissing on their anniversary, which has the word gross written after it and a portion of a twenty dollar bill with Isn’t this an awesome leaf?! written under it. The outside back cover is very cute as well, showing our wormie friend writing in his diary and we can read June 5 - I get the feeling I’m being watched… Very cute and clever.
The inside of the book is just as funny and cute. The brown worm wears a ballcap throughout and makes expressions that look so human, and yet seem to fit for a worm as well.
The text is a medium large black or white font, depending on the background of the page. I like when it is placed so that it is easily read and this book does that. Often in the book the worm talks in conversation balloons as well. The print on these is a bit smaller, but still mostly easy to read.
My Feelings
I’ve had so much fun reading this book to my daycare children and really have to thank deenaf for her wonderful review that led me to putting this book on hold at our library.
When I first opened the book I wasn’t sure that my little ones would sit still for the length of it. I was pleasantly surprised when I began reading and even Jake seemed to get into the story. I’m sure that the wonderful illustrations helped keep this 2 year olds attention. Of course being about worms made the story one of great interest to him.
It was really funny when I got to one part about the worm eating his homework and the girls fell on the floor laughing. I’m sure they have no idea what homework is, but nonetheless they thought that was hysterical.
I do have one very small con about this book. On one page the worm talks about the advantages of being a worm. Unfortunately one of the things he talks about is not having to go to the dentist. While this is true, since he has no teeth, generally the age group that would be enjoying this book may feel they are being told that going to the dentist is a bad thing. That isn’t a message that I want to convey to young impressionable minds. I’ve just been skipping that part of the diary and changed it from being three things that are good about being a worm, to two. It is however a very small con and can be discussed to help children understand.
The illustrations are so much fun and really fit whatever activity is on the page. Things like the macaroni necklace….that is only one piece of macaroni and almost covers the worms whole body or when our wormy friend is pretending to be a Secret Service Agent and has a suit coat, sunglasses and a headset on, makes each page so much fun to look at.
This book, while not necessarily meant to be educational does teach children a little bit about worms, spiders and mother nature herself. Since we had planted sunflowers this Spring, I was glad to find this book and be able to talk about how worms help in the garden.
Last night at Target I pointed this book out to my oldest daughter, who also owns a family daycare, and we stood there in the aisle laughing our heads off. She appreciated the fun illustrations and clever text as much as I do. She decided she had to purchase it for her daycare….lucky kids.
Nuts & Bolts
Diary of a Worm was written by Doreen Cronin, the author of Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. The illustrations were done by Harry Bliss who also illustrated Count Down To Kindergarten, Which Would You Rather Be and is also a cartoonist and cover artist for New Yorker Magazine.
This 2003, 40 paged book was published by Joanna Cotler Books, An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. It is available in Hardcover and Audio CD.
This book is recommended for children as young as 3 years and would probably still be enjoyed by 6 or 7 year olds as well.
The jacket price is $15.99 US and $19.99 CAN, but as with most books can be found at many dotcoms for much less.
ISBN: 006000150X
Recommended:
Yes
The Story
This is the cute story of a handsome worm who keeps a diary and allows us to take a peek at it to follow what his days are like.
Now it might seem as if worms lead a rather boring life, but this book helped us to see that they actually have a very busy life with lots to do.
On the first two page spread we learn what our unnamed worm friend learns from his Mom.
March 20
Mom says there are three things I should always remember:
1. The earth gives us everything we need.
2. When we dig tunnels, we help take care of the earth.
3. Never bother Daddy when he’s eating the newspaper.
The diary goes on talk about things that the worm does, like teaching a spider to dig, trying to walk upside down like the spider, digging deeper because it is fishing season and using his good manners and saying good morning to the first ant he saw. He had to stand there all day though, because 600 ants followed that one.
Our worm friend has things he likes about being a worm, like not having to go the dentist, never getting in trouble for tracking mud in the house and not having to take a bath.
He also has things he doesn’t like. Not being able to chew gum, have a dog and all the homework. are a few of things that make being a worm a little less than enjoyable.
At the end of his diary his last notation is about people forgetting that worms are even here, but that the earth never forgets.
The Illustrations
The illustrations in this book are just as entertaining as the text is. The fun starts on the front cover of the book and each page is filled with hilarious drawings of the baseball capped worm and his family.
On the inside cover are family snapshots of things like a family vacation, and the worms first tunnel. The back cover has more photos including a snapshot of his mom and dad kissing on their anniversary, which has the word gross written after it and a portion of a twenty dollar bill with Isn’t this an awesome leaf?! written under it. The outside back cover is very cute as well, showing our wormie friend writing in his diary and we can read June 5 - I get the feeling I’m being watched… Very cute and clever.
The inside of the book is just as funny and cute. The brown worm wears a ballcap throughout and makes expressions that look so human, and yet seem to fit for a worm as well.
The text is a medium large black or white font, depending on the background of the page. I like when it is placed so that it is easily read and this book does that. Often in the book the worm talks in conversation balloons as well. The print on these is a bit smaller, but still mostly easy to read.
My Feelings
I’ve had so much fun reading this book to my daycare children and really have to thank deenaf for her wonderful review that led me to putting this book on hold at our library.
When I first opened the book I wasn’t sure that my little ones would sit still for the length of it. I was pleasantly surprised when I began reading and even Jake seemed to get into the story. I’m sure that the wonderful illustrations helped keep this 2 year olds attention. Of course being about worms made the story one of great interest to him.
It was really funny when I got to one part about the worm eating his homework and the girls fell on the floor laughing. I’m sure they have no idea what homework is, but nonetheless they thought that was hysterical.
I do have one very small con about this book. On one page the worm talks about the advantages of being a worm. Unfortunately one of the things he talks about is not having to go to the dentist. While this is true, since he has no teeth, generally the age group that would be enjoying this book may feel they are being told that going to the dentist is a bad thing. That isn’t a message that I want to convey to young impressionable minds. I’ve just been skipping that part of the diary and changed it from being three things that are good about being a worm, to two. It is however a very small con and can be discussed to help children understand.
The illustrations are so much fun and really fit whatever activity is on the page. Things like the macaroni necklace….that is only one piece of macaroni and almost covers the worms whole body or when our wormy friend is pretending to be a Secret Service Agent and has a suit coat, sunglasses and a headset on, makes each page so much fun to look at.
This book, while not necessarily meant to be educational does teach children a little bit about worms, spiders and mother nature herself. Since we had planted sunflowers this Spring, I was glad to find this book and be able to talk about how worms help in the garden.
Last night at Target I pointed this book out to my oldest daughter, who also owns a family daycare, and we stood there in the aisle laughing our heads off. She appreciated the fun illustrations and clever text as much as I do. She decided she had to purchase it for her daycare….lucky kids.
Nuts & Bolts
Diary of a Worm was written by Doreen Cronin, the author of Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. The illustrations were done by Harry Bliss who also illustrated Count Down To Kindergarten, Which Would You Rather Be and is also a cartoonist and cover artist for New Yorker Magazine.
This 2003, 40 paged book was published by Joanna Cotler Books, An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. It is available in Hardcover and Audio CD.
This book is recommended for children as young as 3 years and would probably still be enjoyed by 6 or 7 year olds as well.
The jacket price is $15.99 US and $19.99 CAN, but as with most books can be found at many dotcoms for much less.
ISBN: 006000150X
Recommended:
Yes
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