Diary of a Worm

Diary of a Worm

Author: Doreen Cronin
Illustrator: Harry Bliss

Theme: Ecology, Environment, Invertebrates
Genre: Fiction, Journal/Diary, Humor
Age: Preschool and up

Synopsis: Written in journalistic style. This book chronicles the activities of a worm and what he does during his day. He runs into a few complications and finds some things he just cannot do.

This is such a good book, and my students loved the story. They spent days talking about this book and actually asked me if they could write their own diary.

Activity 1: Have students pick their favorite animal, and write their own diary for this animal. Have them start off writing five days worth of diary entries, and you can add to this number for more ambitious students.

Activity 2: Have students keep a diary about themselves for a week. Talk about the importance of writing these entries in chronological order.

Author: Doreen Cronin lives in New York. She is best know for her book Click-Clack-Moo: Cows that Type which won the Caldecott Honor. She was an attorney before she became a writer. However she wrote her first book before she went to law school, but it was rejected for years. Finally she was contacted by a publisher who wanted to publish her book. At this point she decided to leave the courtroom to be a full time writer.

Cronin, D. (2003). Diary of a Worm. New York: HarperCollins. Grades Preschool and up.