The Worm Whisperer (review)

Ellis Coffey doesn't get to spend a lot of time outside of school with his fourth-grade classmates. Even before his father became debilitated with a back injury and Ellis had to pick up the slack at home while Mom worked several part time jobs, their farm's location well outside their North Carolina town made sustaining friendships pretty difficult. Now Ellis has discovered a way to combine family business with friendship and pleasure: if he can successfully train a caterpillar to climb up a string, Ellis can enter his new "pet" into the annual Woolly Worm Race, hang out with friends, and win the thousand-dollar prize which would cover the insurance deductible for his father's back surgery. The story of a resourceful kid from a just-gettin'-by family in a rural backwater will resonate with Barbara O'Connor fans, who will recognize that a happy ending is inevitably just a hundred-plus page turns and some spot art away. The Woolly Worm Contest, with its cheering crowds and mock steroid checks, is worth the price of admission, and kids who have not had the pleasure of attending the actual Elk Banner, NC event in person may want to organize one in their hometown posthaste.