Yucky Worms

Spring is coming and I am ready.Vivian French creates a fun spring read in Yucky Worms. Her sensory description makes your senses react, at least mine did. I do enjoy worms. I do not fish and marvel at anyone who can hook a slimy creature to the line.  My nose wrinkles at the sound of the word “worm”, so I find that I am surprised at home much I like the book, Yucky Worms. It’s going on my need-to-own book list.

Yucky Worms would be a great mentor text for an “All About” unit of study. Vivian French writes in narrative with the hybrid of nonfiction facts on the sides on the page. She sprinkles fun facts throughout the text. The nonfiction diagrams show you the below-the-surface activity a worm creates.

Read the jacket flap. The blurb explains that Vivian dug up a worm one day when her grandson, Jack. was with her. He immediately said, “Yuck,” which is the pretext of this book. Isn’t it fun to find out how the author got her idea?

Savorings for reading and in writing for Yucky Worms:

• Hybrid text – narrative of grandma and grandson learning about earthworms; informational of side bars and in diagrams of the earth and earthworms
• Descriptive – slimy, slithery, wiggly worm
• Speech bubbles
• Diagrams – the illustrations show the network of worms and how they live in the environment
• Index – list is in the back – information in the text is shared in two different kinds of fonts

(Warsaw Public Library – new book – 2009 copyright)