Diary of a Worm.

Diary of a Worm. by Doreen Cronin, with pictures by Harry Bliss (2003), is an all time classic!
It will always be loved by kids and their lucky parents. It is written in the first person--in the words of an intelligent worm child--and it describes things that happen to him in his daily life as a worm. He plays with his friend, Spider, he describes some of the dangers of worm life, like hopscotch, and he goes to school. Once he forgot to bring his lunch, so he ate his homework! His teacher told him to write "I will not eat my homework" ten times, but when he was finished he ate that too.

You will never look at worms in the same way after reading this book. Worms are good for the earth, and worms (at least in this book) are funny!

In my book rating system, this rates an A+ ! I recommend this book for ages 3 to 8. There are two sequels--Diary of a Spider, and Diary of a Fly (but not Diary of a Wimpy Kid! That's another story...)

Luke on the Loose

Luke On The Loose
by Harry Bliss (a Toon Book, 2009)

This book is extraordinarily funny! It's about a boy called Luke who chases pigeons all the way New York into Brooklyn and up onto the top of a water tower! As he chases the pigeons, he scares people to heck, and almost kills himself in the street . His dad organizes a search, and the fire brigade find him asleep on top of the water tower, and return him to his parents.

This is a Toon Book, which is graphic easy reader--a comic book book for readers five to seven, but I enjoyed it at age eight.

City, by David Macaulay

City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction
by David Macaulay (1974) is the story of how an imaginary Roman city goes from just a few tents to a metropolis with marvels of engineering like an aqueduct and a bridge 60 feet over a river. His trusty drawings build a picture in your mind as you watch the city growing.

I especially liked the description of the building of the forum, the heart of the city, because that was cool. There are fascinating details, like how Roman sidewalks were built, and how to build a good aqueduct. Fact--aqueducts were built about fifty feet off the ground, to keep the water from being poisoned or stolen.

This a bit hard for the average third grader to read to himself, and is more for fourth graders and up. But younger kids can enjoy having it read out loud to them, and studying the pictures. Definitely! You have to study the pictures to get what he's saying, and the pictures are awesome.

For more great non-fiction, visit the Non Fiction Monday posts at Picture Book of the Day.