How To Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Written: Sep 30 '07 (Updated Sep 30 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: moves quickly, good character building for a relatively short book
Cons: no girls really
The Bottom Line: Fun short book about kids being kids and nasty worms involved along the way.
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| artemis8's Full Review: Thomas Rockwell - How to Eat Fried Worms Books |
When I told my sister, who is not a member of Epinions, about dramastef's and hadassahchana's writeoff she wanted to donate a book too. Every so often you get to learn something new about someone you're really close with and I found out that the book that really got my sister into reading was How To Eat Fried Worms.
My sister said she thinks she read this book in 2nd grade. I'd guess that to be the younger age range of the intended readership on this book. There are four boys who make up the main characters of this book and I think they are ten years old. So anyone between 7 and 11 is probably the intended audience.
This book is about Billy, the daredevil of the group, Alan who makes the bet, Tom who is closer to Billy, and Joe who is closer to Alan. Alan bets Billy $50 that Billy won't eat 15 worms over 15 days. Of course Alan thinks he won't be able to do it, but as the days pass and Billy keeps eating them he starts to get worried.
We get to see the way the boys deal with each other. This close friends resort to cheating (gluing two worms together) and trickery. A true schism seems to form between the boys and the boys' parents have to get involved.
While the underlying theme is the eating of the worms I think the dynamic of the relationship between the boys is what shines the most. They are typical children, complaining about their mother's cooking or wanting to go a local ball game. They all share their thoughts on eating worms and Billy has a scare of getting sick to his stomach from the worms, and giving his parents a fright along the way too. But don't worry, no one dies, worms really aren't too dangerous to eat.
The book is written by Thomas Rockwell and won the Mark Twain Award in 1975, which is presented annually in Missouri to a book, based on literary merit, and chosen by students in grades 4-8. The version I have is 115 pages long and has illustrations by Emily McCully. One of her sketches appears on about every fourth or fifth page.
While the book was written in 1973 it doesn't seem dated to me. There is nothing about electronics, just the classics and things that are still around, like worms, ketchup, horseradish sauce, and frying utensils. Of course $50 in the 70s meant more than it does now, it still is a high enough number that most 10 year olds even today don't take betting $50 lightly.
You'll have to read the book to find out it Billy can make it through all fifteen and if the friendship between the four boys can be maintained, and I think you will find it a worthwhile read. While all the characters are boys my sister (and I as an adult) really enjoyed this book and I think readers of either gender can appreciate the interesting story of four boys and fifteen worms.
I will be sending a copy of this book to the Mississippi Humanities Council, donated by my sister for the Fight illiteracy Write Off
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
artemis8
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Member: Karyn
Location: Kansas City, MO
Reviews written: 1296
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About Me:
I love to read and spend time with my five year old.
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