Yucky Worms (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Yucky Worms
"Yuck! … Throw it away!" says our young narrator when his gardening grandmother digs up "a slimy, slithery, wiggly worm." Grandma, however, is a wise gardener, and she takes this opportunity to explain the wonders of the worm world to her uninitiated grandchild. The narrative framework is somewhat stilted, but the book walks through all the usual kid concerns and myths about worms, capably making the case for their value; worm poop, the yuck-de-la-yuck of worm existence, appropriately receives a generous share of attention as the important ecological contribution that it is. The pencil and gouache illustrations keep the human figures light and simplified, putting the emphasis on the gaily colored garden flowers and the ant-farm intricacy of the below-ground realm of the worms, which is spiced up with humorous vermiform comments in speech balloons and additional tidbits of information. The dual levels of narrative expands the book's reach to early readalone as well as readaloud, and kids not yet ready for Cronin's Diary of a Worm (BCCB 10/03) will find this a compelling argument for reevaluation of the night-crawling kind. The book concludes with some investigative guidelines ("How to Be a Wormologist!") and a brief index.
