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How to Eat Fried Worms (Paperback)
by Thomas Rockwell
| Category:
Story, Ages 4-8, Children's books |
| Market price: ¥ 88.00
MSL price:
¥ 78.00
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| Stock:
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
According to a boy’s funny experience of eating 15 worms, this book discusses the peer pressure kids may be getting now, as well as what they will face in the future. |
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Author: Thomas Rockwell
Publisher: Yearling
Pub. in: July, 2006
ISBN: 0440421853
Pages: 128
Measurements: 7.5 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00213
Other information: Reprint edition
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- MSL Picks -
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell, tells the story of four boys. Billy and Alan make a bet that Billy cannot eat 15 worms in 15 days. Tom acts as Billy's "second" in the bet, with Joe acting as Alan's. Rockwell's set-up for the story is inspired in its simplicity, and he tells the tale with gusto. The contest turns into an all-out battle of wits and wills between the two teams-it's a sort of mini-epic whose plot contains some entertaining twists. It's also a great "gross-out" story, and Rockwell's characters really put their culinary imaginations to use as Billy attempts to achieve his goal. It's an enjoyable comic tale.
Target readers:
Kids aged 4-8
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Thomas Rockwell is the author of a number of books for young readers. He was the recipient of the Mark Twain Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Sequoyah Award for How to Eat Fried Worms. He lives in Poughkeepsie, NY.
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Because of a bet, Billy is in the uncomfortable position of having to eat fifteen worms in fifteen days. The worms are supplied by his opponent, whose motto is "The bigger and juicier, the better!" At first Billy's problem is whether or not he can swallow the worm placed before him, even with a choice of condiments from peanut butter to horseradish. But later it looks as if Billy will win, and the challenge becomes getting to the worm to eat it. Billy's family, after checking with the doctor, takes everything in stride. They even help Billy through his gastronomic ordeal, which twists and turns with each new day, leaving the outcome of the bet continually in doubt.
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Chapter I: The Bet
Hey, Tom! Where were you last night?"
"Yeah, you missed it."
Alan and Billy came up the front walk. Tom was sitting on his porch steps, bouncing a tennis ball.
"Old Man Tator caught Joe as we were climbing through the fence, so we all had to go back, and he made us pile the peaches on his kitchen table, and then he called our mothers."
"Joe's mother hasn't let him out yet."
"Where were you?"
Tom stopped bouncing the tennis ball. He was a tall, skinny boy who took his troubles very seriously.
"My mother kept me in."
"What for?"
"I wouldn't eat my dinner."
Alan sat down on the step below Tom and began to chew his thumbnail.
"What was it?"
"Salmon casserole."
Billy flopped down on the grass, chunky, snub-nosed, freckled.
"Salmon casserole's not so bad."
"Wouldn't she let you just eat two bites?" asked Alan. "Sometimes my mother says, well, all right, if I'll just eat two bites."
"I wouldn't eat even one."
"That's stupid," said Billy. "One bite can't hurt you. I'd eat one bite of anything before I'd let them send me up to my room right after supper."
Tom shrugged.
"How about mud?" Alan asked Billy. "You wouldn't eat a bite of mud."
Alan argued a lot, small, knobby-kneed, nervous, gnawing at his thumbnail, his face smudged, his red hair mussed, shirttail hanging out, shoelaces untied.
"Sure, I would," Billy said. "Mud. What's mud? Just dirt with a little water in it. My father says everyone eats a pound of dirt every year anyway."
"How about poison?"
"That's different." Billy rolled over on his back.
"Is your mother going to make you eat the leftovers today at lunch?" he asked Billy.
"She never has before."
"How about worms?" Alan asked Billy.
Tom's sister's cat squirmed out from under the porch and rubbed against Billy's knee.
"Sure," said Billy. "Why not? Worms are just dirt."
"Yeah, but they bleed."
"So you'd have to cook them. Cows bleed.”
"I bet a hundred dollars you wouldn't really eat a worm. You talk big now, but you wouldn't if you were sitting at the dinner table with a worm on your plate."
"I bet I would. I'd eat fifteen worms if somebody'd bet me a hundred dollars."
"You really want to bet? I'll bet you fifty dollars you can't eat fifteen worms. I really will."
"Where're you going to get fifty dollars?"
"In my savings account. I've got one hundred and thirty dollars and seventy-nine cents in my savings account. I know, because last week I put in the five dollars my grandmother gave me for my birthday."
"Your mother wouldn't let you take it out."
"She would if I lost the bet. She'd have to. I'd tell her I was going to sell my stamp collection otherwise. And I bought that with all my own money that I earned mowing lawns, so I can do whatever I want with it. I'll bet you fifty dollars you can't eat fifteen worms. Come on. You're chicken. You know you can't do it."
"I wouldn't do it," said Tom. "If salmon casserole makes me sick, think what fifteen worms would do."
Joe came scuffing up the walk and flopped down beside Billy. He was a small boy, with dark hair and a long nose and big brown eyes.
"What's going on?"
"Come on," said Alan to Billy. "Tom can be your second and Joe'll be mine, just like in a duel. You think it's so easy — here's your chance to make fifty bucks."
Billy dangled a leaf in front of the cat, but the cat just rubbed against his knee, purring.
"What kind of worms?"
"Regular worms."
"Not those big green ones that get on the tomatoes. I won't eat those. And I won't eat them all at once. It might make me sick. One worm a day for fifteen days."
"And he can eat them any way he wants," said Tom. "Boiled, stewed, fried, fricasseed."
"Yeah, but we provide the worms," said Joe. "And there have to be witnesses present when he eats them; either me or Alan or somebody we can trust. Not just you and Billy."
"Okay?" Alan said to Billy.
Billy scratched the cat's ears. Fifty dollars. That was lot of money. How bad could a worm taste? He'd eaten fried liver, salmon loaf, mushrooms, tongue, pig's feet. Other kids' parents were always nagging them to eat, eat; his had begun to worry about how much he ate. Not that he was fat. He just hadn't worked off all his winter blubber yet.
He slid his hand into his shirt and furtively squeezed the side of his stomach. Worms were just dirt; dirt wasn't fattening.
If he won fifty dollars, he could buy that mini-bike George Cunningham's brother had promised to sell him in September before he went away to college. Heck, he could gag anything down for fifty dollars, couldn't he?
He looked up. "I can use ketchup or mustard or anything like that? As much as I want?"
Alan nodded. "Okay?"
Billy stood up.
"Okay."
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E. R. Bird (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
To my mind, How to Eat Fried Worms is an American children's classic ranking just behind Harriet the Spy. In school, kids are constantly being forced to read books that, while excellently written, haven't a funny or amusing sentence anywhere to be seen. This is a foolish act on the part of schools. If you want your children to become good readers, you need to soften the meaningful with the flamboyant and silly. I was actually expecting, How to Eat Fried Worms to be some kind of mildly amusing but essentially meaningless tale. I certainly didn't expect anyone to actually ear a worm. Instead, I found that this is a brilliantly plotted war between two factions of friends and a book that can do a lot of good in teaching kids about rising action, climax, and satisfying endings. Plus lots of worms get munched. |
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
How to Eat Fried Worms? Doesn't that sound disgusting! This was a great book that was very interesting and humorous. This book is about a boy who is dared to eat worms for a certain amount of money. Some of his friends who dared him to eat the worms took him to a carnival and tried to brain-wash him. If they got him to forget about the worms before 12'o clock he would have to pay his friends money for not doing it. The boy comes home and his mom wakes him up and says ''Don’t you have to eat two worms?'' The boy automatically ran down into the back yard and ate two worms before 12'o clock. So the story goes on very adventurous. I recommend this book because it is fun, exciting, mysterious, and awesome! That is why you should read this book. |
Fran Sturgill (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
I loved this book as did the other two that I purchased it for. This sounds so like a child. Kids make these kinds of dares all the time. My two were interested in this book after I told them about the earthworm cookies that were served during a survival class. I had to promise never to serve worms to the children. It is still tempting after reading this book. |
Lynn (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
I used this book as a read aloud to my fourth grade students when it appeared on the bookshelves in 1973. As any child knows, a dare to do something is hard to resist. Billy, the boy who dares to eat worms to prove he is not a "chicken," reminded me of the kids in my neighborhood when I was doing the "dares". The four boys who are involved in the hilarious antics of How to Eat Fried Worms are made real by Thomas Rockwell's descriptions and interactions of the characters. As is often the case in the high stakes game of "dare" the boys change allegiance as the story evolves. As Billy comes closer to his goal of eating 15 worms in 15 days, the antagonists try even harder to defeat him with shady tricks while presenting the worms for consumption. A funny book that remains timeless in the world of the childhood "dare." |
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