Do you know the best thing to help grow big, juicy vegetables?
Harriet found this amazing ingredient while she was doing her family chore of feeding their compost worms. Her sister Sally was in charge of the chickens, and her brother Fred walked their dog.
Harriet felt like she had the most boring job of her siblings. She fed the worms every day then sat by their big box and watched them eat. She learnt that worms don’t like orange peel, but they like freshly dug weeds. They love fresh fruit from her brother’s lunchbox, but not Nana’s two year old tomato relish. Newspapers and even eggshells are delicious to worms.
To Harriet’s despair, that’s all the worms did – eat. Just as she was going to leave the worms to their munching, she saw something on the side of the compost bin. Something she wasn’t expecting, and just what she needed to make the worms exciting. A tap for worm wee.
The perfect way to introduce composting to small children. This story not only shows an ordinary girl doing family chores, but what can be achieved if you stick at something. There are fascinating facts in the back of the book too. Did you know a worm begins in an egg? Or that worms might eat lots of things, but they don’t have any teeth?
Look closely at the illustrations which are rich in collage. The textures for hair, clothing and the colourful worms themselves leap off the page. There is humour and wonder and finally joy as Harriet knows what all her hard work is for.
Many more interesting insights into worms are waiting for young readers, including what worms do or don’t like to eat. Recycling kitchen scraps into a useful resource for the garden is an easy way any household can recycle food waste.
Harriet’s Hungry Worms is a welcome addition to picture books on sustainability and environmental reading for primary age children.
Author – Samantha Smith
Illustrator – Melissa Johns
Picture Book
(2023, Exisle Publishing, EK Books, Worms, Compost, Garden, Vegetables, Growing, Worm Wee, Sustainability, Recycle, Food waste, Worm Facts, Environment, Family Jobs, Chores, Responsibility)