Little Worm's Big Question

In Little Worm’s Big Question by Eva Schlunke, a tiny worm who feels bullied and ignored takes a wise little grasshopper’s advice and sets out to find what makes him special to the world.

It’s a BIG question for a little worm, especially when that little worm is convinced he can’t do much of anything. He can’t leap 20 times his own height like the grasshopper, he can’t frighten people like the cobra, and he can’t look like a relaxed and cool dude like the polar bear. He also can’t lift 85 times his body weight like the beetle, or make a big splash like the whale, or even look absolutely gorgeous like the pompous peacock. In fact, it seems he can’t do anything—so how in the world can he feel special?

Little Worm’s Big Question is a timely, relevant, and adorable little book about learning your own strengths and weaknesses and appreciating yourself in the process. Although some parents or teachers may find it a bit wordy for its target age of Pre-K–3, if they look past this one quibble they will surely find it helpful in building self-esteem and self-awareness in the very young. Schlunke’s prose is friendly and age-appropriate and reads like a conversation between best friends.

Political cartoonist Polyp’s illustrations are something to behold. They are detailed and quite realistic; so realistic, in fact, that readers may almost forget that little worm is an illustration and can’t really talk. Young children will love the nature scenes: the warmth of the sandy desert, the icy emptiness of the polar bear’s arctic world, and the rolling waves of the whale’s deep-ocean playground.