This Week's Non-Related Reading: Elise Gravel's The Worm

Worms don’t have eyes, the eyed worm in Elise Gravel’s The Worm tells us.  Worms also don’t wear berets, drive garbage trucks, or are so gosh darned cute, but that is besides the point… This is a fabulous book that strikes a nice balance between entertainment and education—always good in a book for this age group.  Our narrator the worm wears everything from a beret to a pair of spectacles, and seen in all sorts of decidedly un-worm-like conditions (when was the last time you saw a worm driving a garbage truck?).  And the illustrations and lettering are absolutely gorgeous.  At the same time, it gives kids the chance to learn some new words like ‘invertebrate,’ or ‘hermaphrodite’**—all helpfully drawn in larger, bold, and otherwise eye-catching letters.  

It’s part of a larger series called Disgusting Creatures, though the narrator does try to tell the reader that worms are not disgusting!  Unless you plan on eating them, in which case, yes, they are disgusting and please do not eat me.  

‘Disgusting creatures’ are a good choice for edutainment—what child hasn’t let out a long, drawn out ewwwwwwwwwww when presented with something creepy, crawly, slimy, or sticky, only to be drawn in closer for a good poke?  This is the textual equivalent of a good poke, and just as satisfying. Also, I can imagine some kid, armed with both a love of grossing people out and a charming puerility digging out a worm and presenting it on some unwilling lap, armed with the knowledge that not only are worms slimy, but that some can be up to 115 feet long.  And isn’t that disgusting?  

Best out of context line: What? Delicious? No, no, no! I'm disgusting! I'm disgusting! 


Also, though I'm not exactly the target audience for the book, I'm glad I received it, because it led me to other work by the author/illustrator, Elise Gravel. And it's awesome!  Her blog is here.

I received this book as of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program. 

**Also, props to her for saying that some worms have both male and female reproductive organs. Not something sillily euphemistic, like they have both girl and boy parts.