  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 02/01/2014 Superworm is a popular member of his community. With his long, supple body, he can entertain by serving as a jump rope, a hula hoop, or a slide, while also being helpful by fishing fallen insects out of a well and becoming a lasso to save a baby toad from an impending bicycle accident. When the Wizard Lizard captures our hero in order to cast a spell and make him do the lizard’s bidding, Superworm’s many friends, including grasshoppers, snails, and honeybees, have to hatch a plan to save their buddy. Told in well-scanning, rhyming couplets, this tale of friends helping friends is a joy to read aloud and will be welcomed by children in group or one-on-one sharing. Saturated, boldly colored cartoon illustrations reveal googly-eyed insects who live together in harmony, once they rid themselves of a pesky lizard. Read this along with Crichtor (1958) by Tomi Ungerer for a storytime about long, lithe, and helpful characters.Read this title along with Crichtor for a storytime about helpful reptiles - Copyright 2014 Booklist. School Library Journal - 02/01/2014 PreS-Gr 3—The team behind The Gruffalo (Dial, 2005) returns with a slightly slimy superhero who will (literally) worm his way into your heart. It's Superworm! He rescues toads and beetles from peril and young bees from boredom. The insects clap and cheer for their very own invertebrate champion, inciting the ire of the Wizard Lizard and his henchman crow, who kidnap Superworm for their own sinister devices. The toads, slugs, earwigs, and other bugs band together to rescue the hero, with a cunning plan to wrap the villain in honey and spiderwebs and relegate him to the rubbish heap (the slugs help by eating the wizard's flower wand). All is right with the world as Superworm returns to act as swing, slide, and hula hoop for his adoring fans. The illustrations are charming and detailed (look for a gruffalo in the garbage dump), with earwigs and beetles managing to look entomologically accurate as well as cute and cuddly. The story line and rhyme are not as engaging as in Room on the Broom (Dial, 2001), but young insect lovers and fans of Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm (HarperCollins, 2003) and other buggy tales will be thoroughly entertained.—Martha Link Yesowitch, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, NC - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Bulletin for the Center... - 03/01/2014 All the critters around love Superworm--who wouldn't, when he can both spring into action to save Beetle from the well and become a nifty skipping rope for the bored bees? All of the "hip hip hooray"s for Superworm carry down to Wizard Lizard, thought, who sends his servant crow off to kidnap Superworm, whom the lizard magically compels to dig for treasure. The other animals spring into action and hatch a plan to wrap the lizard up in a web and toss him in a dump, freeing Superworm. Though the text is a bit lengthy, the strong iambic tetrameter makes for a bouncy, rhythmic readaloud, and with a bit of preparation, kids can join in the repeated chant for Superworm ("Hip, hip horray for SUPERWORM!"). The breezy illustrations, with their detailed pen work, have a pleasing balance of full-bleed pages and vignettes against white pages. The googly-eyed bugs are friendly and inviting, and the sinister, dark hues of Wizard Lizard and his crow contrast nicely with the full rainbow used for Superworm and his friends. A goofy addition to friendship-tale picture books, this wriggly tribute to dirt-crawling friends might also work as a unique addition classroom study of poetry. TA - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Loading...
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