Wiggling Worms at Work (Let's-Read-and-Find-out Science 2 Series)

by Wendy Pfeffer, Steve Jenkins (Illustrator)

Overview

Crawling through the dirt, worms are hard at work, helping plants to grow. Worms help the fruit and vegetables we eat by loosening the soil and feeding the plants. Read and find out about these wiggling wonders!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064451994
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	12/23/2003
Series:	Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Series: Level 2
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	34,107
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Wendy Pfeffer is the author of several titles in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, including From Tadpole to Frog, What's It Like to Be a Fish?, From Seed to Pumpkin, Sounds All Around, Wiggling Worms at Work, Dolphin Talk, and Life in a Coral Reef. She lives in Pennington, New Jersey.

Steve Jenkins received a Caldecott Honor for What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? He has written and illustrated Almost Gone and illustrated Bugs Are Insects and Wiggling Worms at Work in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Editorial Reviews

Here is the scoop on nature's underground gardeners! Without legs, a backbone, or teeth, worms create tunnels in dirt allowing roots and water to move through soil more easily. They perform this essential function through their normal life processes of eating and digesting the soil and plant parts that go through their gizzards and crops. That is how worms produce castings, rich fertilizer to help plants grow. Worms also cover the entrance to their holes with castings (called middens). Moving on bristles lining the underside of their bodies and breathing air through their moist skin, each worm is both male and female (but still needs a mate). After mating, worms grow a cocoon ring around their bodies. When the ring slips off, fertilized eggs are inside. After about three weeks, three to four wormlets hatch out of about 30 eggs. In six weeks, they will be adults. Worms stay underground during the freezing winter and come back out in spring. The last two pages of this book suggest activities for children to observe worms and the work they do. This basic book with simple illustrations is packed with information and is a great classroom or library text. Other titles in the 2nd stage of the "Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science" series include Ant Cities, Chirping Crickets, and Spinning Spiders. 2004, HarperCollins, Ages 5 to 9.
—Chris Gill

Children's Literature

K-Gr 3-This is a great book marred by a few unclear pictures. The well-organized text explains how worms improve the quality of soil and covers the basics about the animal's body structure, movement, diet, and reproduction. The writing is clear and engaging; in one instance, Pfeffer compares the segments on a worm's body to "the coils on a Slinky toy." Although the collage artwork is visually appealing, some of the images are a bit confusing. In one illustration accompanying the explanation of how a worm tunnels, the creature looks as if it has been chopped in two or torn up. In another, it looks as if it is decomposing. The book ends with suggestions for examining a worm in the field and a science-fair-type project using castings. Better choices include Kevin Holmes's Earthworms (Bridgestone, 1998), Michael Elsohn Ross's Wormology (Carolrhoda, 1996), and Bobbie Kalman's Squirmy Wormy Composters (Crabtree, 1992; o.p.).-Jean Lowery, Bishop Woods Elementary School, New Haven, CT Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Here's an eye-opener for anyone unimpressed by the lowly worm. Pfeffer confirms what most preschoolers know: worms rock! In simple, precise prose, she describes how worms tunnel through soil by eating it, and how both the tunnels and the castings that the worms leave behind help plants grow in the soil. She covers worm anatomy and physiology in some detail (and, in the back, invites children to find worms and let them crawl down their arms, to experience their motion and bristles themselves). Jenkins's collages provide interesting texture; the cut-away views of worms underground are especially good. For a creature with "no eyes, no nose, no ears, and hardly any brain at all," the worm commands respect; Pfeffer shows why. Even squeamish kids will love this. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews