The diary has things such as pictures of Spider's family, a picture of his favorite book, a discovery of a sculpture, and a playbill from the school's production of " Itsy Bitsy Spider". (Fiction.The book is a diary written by a spider. However, the pacing and the action easily make it right for shared reading. With vocabulary that may prove too challenging for a novice, DiCamillo’s tale is best suited for those ready to move up. The glossy paintings, with exaggerated caricatures and lively colors, complement DiCamillo’s tone, although the scowling, lantern-jawed visage of the crabby neighbor borders on the unpleasant. DiCamillo aims for over-the-top fun with her tale of porcine shenanigans, and Van Dusen’s gouache illustrations provide a comical counterpart to the text. Wild chases and mayhem ensue before help arrives in the guise of firefighters. In her quest for some midnight munchies, Mercy awakens the crotchety neighbor. Although the besotted Watsons assume Mercy is trotting off to seek help, the only search and rescue Mercy seems to care about involves butter and hot bread. When Mercy sneaks into her owner’s bed one night, her added heft causes the bed to fall partway through the ceiling. Mercy is the beloved pet pig of the doting Mr. Hilarity and hijinks abound in this tale about a voracious swine with an overweening yen for hot buttered toast. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.Ī lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait Gerald groans. When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler-heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!” Readers will come away with the insight that worms may not be so good at walking upside down or doing the Hokey Pokey, but they do play an important role in taking care of the Earth. Bliss gives this limbless young diarist a face and an identifying red cap, adds plenty of sight gags, and just to set the tone, plasters (painted) snapshots on the endpapers captioned “My favorite pile of dirt,” “My report card” (“Needs to resist eating homework”), etc., etc.
![diary of a worm diary of a worm](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/16/4e/b5/164eb506c29856231d94c9853021cc13--digital-storytelling-school-videos.jpg)
![diary of a worm diary of a worm](https://dkc1jod44tx5p.cloudfront.net/images/products/645Wx645H/800375_A.jpg)
DIARY OF A WORM HOW TO
He tries to teach his arachnid friend how to dig a tunnel learns the peril of hanging out on a sidewalk during a game of hopscotch suffers a nightmare from eating too much garbage before bedtime makes a one-piece macaroni necklace in art class earns a parental reprimand for telling his older sister that “no matter how much time she spends looking in the mirror, her face will always look just like her rear end,” and much, much more. Each turn of the page will bring fresh waves of giggles as a young worm records one misadventure after another.