What about Worms!? (Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!)

by Ryan T. Higgins, Mo Willems

Overview

A Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor award winner!


From #1 New York Times best-selling author Ryan T. Higgins comes What About Worms!?


Tiger is BIG. Tiger is BRAVE. And Tiger is NOT afraid of anything . . . except WORMS! Are Tiger’s worm worries worse than worms?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368045735
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/19/2020
Series:	Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! Series , #7
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	35,866
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD310L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ryan T. Higgins (ryanthiggins.com) is the author and illustrator of the New York Times best-selling Mother Bruce, which received the E. B. White Read-Aloud Award and the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor; Hotel Bruce; BE QUIET!; and Bruce's Big Move. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids and lots of pets.

Editorial Reviews

04/06/2020

In this spry addition to Willems’s ongoing series, Elephant and Piggie read a book about deceptively fierce Tiger, who is not afraid of anything—except worms. After Tiger explains his aversion to the critters (they’re slimy, they “like to wiggle,” and “you cannot tell their tops from their bottoms!”), he is distracted by things he loves—flowers planted in soil, a shiny apple hanging from a tree—only to toss them aside when he remembers, with horror, that worms enjoy those very same things. Unearthed, a few worms articulate their dislike of tigers (they’re furry, they like to walk, and “you can tell their tops from their bottoms!”), until they realize that Tiger has left behind the shattered planter he dropped and the apple he spat out, precipitating a reversal of opinion that is, wryly, unreciprocated by the terrified, emotive tiger. Though Higgins (the Mother Bruce series) slips in worthwhile intimations about making snap judgments, his spare, Bill Watterson–tinged art and snappy dialogue create a cleverly meta early reader that solidly stands on its comical feet. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent (for Higgins): Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary. (May)

Publishers Weekly

03/01/2020

PreS-Gr 2—Piggie and Elephant have a grave dilemma: Should they read a book about worms, even if they are uncertain how it will end? They bravely decide to, and as they read, they meet a tiger who is also afraid of worms. Worms are obviously slimy and wiggly, thinks Tiger. Suddenly every object Tiger comes upon is related to worms. Flowers plus dirt equal worms. Crunchy apples equal worms. A book on the ground with a wiggly illustration must be a worm, too! Tiger runs away just as a group of striped worms declares it is afraid of tigers. Ultimately, the worms realize the book Tiger left behind is about tigers, but will they be daring enough to read it? Fans of Piggie and Elephant will be drawn to this title because of Willems's familiar text style. The accompanying illustrations on white and colored backgrounds effectively show the characters' energy and emotions. VERDICT Readers will identify with the characters' reluctance to try new things and learning about unfamiliar topics.—Martha Rico, Yselta ISD, TX

School Library Journal

2020-02-18
What does an uber-confident tiger about town have to worry about? Flowers? Apples? Books? Of course not! Unless they’re teeming with—WORMS!!!

This tiger loves flowers, but flowers are buried in dirt, and everyone knows worms LOVE dirt. Apples are juicy and crunchy and sweet. The tiger loves apples, but so do WORMS!!! The tiger also LOVES books…unless they’re about the one thing the tiger’s terrified of—WORMS!!! It’s impossible to tell their tops from their bottoms! (Gross!) As the tiger overreacts and drops object after object, what does the resulting trail of flowerpot shards, apple pulp, and a tossed-aside book attract? Squirmy, slimy WORMS!!! Guess what worms are afraid of? Furry, noncrawling TIGERS! After all, “you can tell their tops from their bottoms!” (Gross!) But this tiger left these worms some wonderful dirt. This tiger left these worms a delicious apple. And this tiger left these worms the best thing of all—a book! Time to give this tiger a WORM HUG! “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” Higgins’ latest addition to the Elephant & Piggie Like Reading series is an exclamation-point–packed, liberally uppercased rambunctious rollick through the irrational world of phobias. His Hobbes-like feline is a master of inscrutability (NOT!). Expressions ranging from cheesy grins to abject terror race across the tiger’s face faster than you can thumb a flipbook.

Between snorts and giggles, kids will soon discover they’re READING! (Early reader. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews