Amazon Editors recommend this book for children reading with help and building independent reading skills. #1 New York Times Bestseller! This hilarious picture book from the bestselling, acclaimed author-illustrator team of Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss tells the adventures of a worm through his daily diary entries. This is the diary of a worm. This worm lives with his parents, plays with his friends, and even goes to school. But unlike you or me, he never has to take a bath, he gets to eat his homework, and because he doesn't have legs, he just can't do the hokey pokey—no matter how hard he tries. Read the other books in the series: Diary of a Fly and Diary of a Spider ! Doreen Cronin ( Click, Clack Moo: Cows That Type ) and cartoonist Harry Bliss (illustrator of A Fine, Fine School ) shed a whole new light on a creature that spends most of its time underground: the earthworm. Written in diary form, this truly hilarious picture book tracks the ins and outs of a worm's life from the perspective of the worm family's young son. Take June 15's entry: "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. Spider thought that was really funny. Mom did not." Except for the fact that he can't chew gum or have a dog, the boy likes being a worm. He never has to go to the dentist ("No cavities--no teeth, either"), he never gets in trouble for tracking mud through the house, and he never has to take a bath. As long as he can remember Mom's rule "Never bother Daddy when he's eating the newspaper," all is well. Bliss's endearing cartoonish illustrations of anthropomorphized worms are clever visual punchlines for Cronin's delightfully deadpan humor. For example, "June 5: Today we made macaroni necklaces in art class" sounds normal enough until you see the worms wearing one piece of macaroni around their necks, taking up a good part of each worm's body. Children and adults alike will adore this worm's eye perspective on the world. (Ages 6 and older) --Karin Snelson PreSchool-Grade 3-A baseball-capped crawler gives readers an episodic glimpse into the vicissitudes of his life in these hilarious diary entries. Difficulties such as having no arms, having a head that looks a lot like your rear end, and facing the dangers imposed by people digging for bait are balanced by a loving family and good friends. The young protagonist describes playing with his friend Spider, engaging in a variety of activities at school, and interacting with his parents and sister. Packed into these droll slice-of-worm-life vignettes are a few facts about earthworms and their behavior, all rendered with a dry sense of humor. The full-color watercolor-and-ink illustrations sprawl across the pages in lush earth tones. Bliss's cartoons give the worms lots of personality without overly anthropomorphizing them. The use of multiple perspectives will have children eagerly looking at the pictures to identify objects and locales. Primary-grade youngsters will especially appreciate the classroom scenes. This quirky worm's-eye view of the world makes these ubiquitous invertebrates a little more understandable and a lot more fun. Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha's Public Library, WI Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. PreS-Gr. 1. The verbal puns and the wry, colorful cartoons create a funny worm's-eye view of the world in this playful picture book. There's no sustained story here, as there was in Cronin's wonderful Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (2000), but the hilarious vignettes of the worm-child with his family, friends, and enemies show the absurd in humans as much as in the wriggling creatures in the earth. When the worm forgets his lunch, he eats his homework, and he loves telling his older sister that her face will always look like her rear end. One advantage of being a worm is that he never has to go to the dentist: no cavities. "No teeth, either," says Dr. D. Kay. The pictures are both silly and affectionate, whether the worm holds a pencil or hugs his favorite pile of dirt. And there's always the elemental child appeal of how it feels to be tiny in a world of giants. Hazel Rochman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved One small worm . one big world! This is the diary . of a worm. This worm lives with his parents, plays with his friends, and even goes to school. But unlike you or me, he never has to take a bath, he gets to eat his homework, and because he doesn't have legs, he just can't do the hokey pokey – no matter how hard he tries. This hysterical picture book by New York Times bestselling author Doreen Cronin and New York Times bestselling illustrator Harry Bliss tells the daily doings of a small worm in a gigantic worm world. Ages 4–8 Doreen Cronin is the New York Times bestselling author of Diary of a Worm , Diary of a Spider , and Diary of a Fly as well as Click, Clack, Moo: C