After being called “just a worm” by two children, Worm embarks on a journey around the garden to prove them wrong. Debut author-illustrator Marie Boyd seamlessly incorporates concepts of nature, natural selection, habitats, and interdependence in this picture book beautifully illustrated with a cut-paper technique called quilling.
Worm isn’t “just a worm,” no matter what anyone says. Worm is special! Right? Worm sets out across the garden to prove it, interviewing one garden inhabitant after another. Butterfly seems to have all kinds of important qualities—as do Snail, Dragonfly, Ladybug, and Spider. But what can Worm do? What makes Worm special? Maybe Worm is just a worm after all . . . and what’s so bad about that!
This STEAM-themed picture book explores the many wonderful and unique ways in which Worm and friends contribute to the garden and work together to make it grow. Just a Worm celebrates everyone’s individuality and highlights the importance of interdependence—how it’s necessary for a stable, collaborative, and healthy environment. Using the ancient craft of quilling, Marie Boyd meticulously created each illustration out of strips of colored paper that she shaped, layered, and glued to produce a lush three-dimensional world.
Just a Worm is a great read-aloud for family sharing and is a terrific choice for classrooms where the concepts of nature and the natural world are introduced, as well as for teaching social skills such as collaboration and empathy.
Includes a quilling craft for young readers, facts about earthworms, a glossary, and a special message to readers from Worm. ---from the publisher
32 pages 978-0063212565 Ages 5-9
Keywords: worms, science, ecology, ecology and environment, web of life, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, 8 year old, Science Curriculum
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Beautiful illustrations made with paper quilling take readers through a garden tour as a worm tries to discover what it can do. But as it meets one talented creature after another, it begins to think maybe the humans who said, "It's as worm" were right. After all, a worm can't spin a web or pollinate flowers or metamorphose into a butterfly. Will the worm be able to see how much it contributes to the garden? Even its castings, "Okay, fine. Poop." are useful to the plants.
Children will have fun identifying each of the insects and other garden denizens - ladybugs, butterflies, bees, snails, etc. They will laugh as the worm tries to fly, or sympathize as a teary-eyed worm creeps away from the failed attempt. Ferns, purple coneflowers, caladium, even the snail shells are full of delightful details. Back matter gives helpful directions on how to create your own quilled butterfly. Other ideas can be explored on the author's website (www.marieboyd.com).
This is a story to share with someone who is having a hard time finding their niche, or feeling left out as friends or siblings demonstrate skills that the reader hasn't mastered yet. It would also be a wonderful book to use when exploring all the beneficial bugs in a garden, or to talk about the variety of ways that books may be illustrated.
See more of her recommendations: https://fveslibrary.blogspot.com/2023/04/spring-reading-2023-
