Diary of a Worm

Being a worm has its advantages: you never have to go to the dentist or take a bath. On the downside, you can only participate in one verse of the "hokey pokey" at the school dance, and your face looks exactly like your butt. Based on the 2003 picture book written by children's superstar author Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Harry Bliss, the animated Diary of a Worm, narrated by Alexander Gould, is a winning slice-of-annelida-life chronicling several weeks in the existence of a young Lumbricus terrestris (earthworm), whose diary entries cover topics ranging from daily domestic occurrences ("Eat your trash!" admonishes his mother at the dinner table) to school curriculum (classes include "Dirt" and "Tunnel") to the love him/hate him ups and downs of having a spider for a best friend. It's the wonderful details (a nightmare about dodging human girls on a rain-soaked sidewalk, or doodling frames for a "Superworm" comic) that make Cronin's tale such an imaginative delight, not to mention one in which children will enjoy the parallels between this worm's life and their own. An ALA-ALSC 2005 Notable Children's Video, this is highly recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)