A Photo-Friendly Family? The Worm Family Has Its Picture Taken by Jennifer Frank

MRS. WORM LAY AT THE TOP OF A GIANT DIRT PILE, WATCHING HER CHILDREN PLAY.

SHE HOPED SHE'D ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW SQUIRMY, SLIMY, AND CUTE THEY WERE AT THIS AGE.

Suddenly Mrs. Worm has an idea. She calls a photographer, Mr. Muskrat, and makes an appointment for a family photo!

Her oldest daughter Emma Worm can't wait to tell her BFF, Ellie Chipmunk. Ellie's family has a lovely group photo, all with dazzling, big smiles! Sadly, Emma realizes that her family picture will be bereft of bright, toothy smiles.

WORMS DON'T HAVE TEETH!

Her friend Abigail Cat just has to brag about her day at the beauty salon getting her fur all foofy-foofy for her portrait.

Not an option for the Worm family, thinks Emma.

And her buddy Olivia Butterfly can't help boasting about the rainbow of colors her family flaunt in their photo. Emma realizes that that the grayish-brown of her family is not going to amaze and delight any viewer's eyes. She frets all night.

HOW WAS HER FAMILY GOING TO MAKE THEIR PORTRAIT SPECIAL?

WAIT! They can rent costumes! And what fun all the Worms have trying on fake teeth, hats, wigs, and snazzy clothes! What a family photo this is going to be!

But when they arrive at the photography studio, Mr. Muskrat stops them at the door, claiming that his next appointment is with the Worm family. And Worms do not have teeth. Or hair. Or wild colors. He's right, the Worms all agree. But we all can do one thing really well.

They can spell! And they wiggle and curl and squirm into a clever cursive pose that spells...

CHEERS

All families are different in their own particular ways, in Jennifer Frank's just published, The Worm Family Has Its Picture Taken (Anne Schwarz Books, 2021), in a story that spoofs the competition between families while affirming the unique qualities that each family has. Two-time Caldecott Award-winning artist David Ezra Stein struts his comic illustrative gifts in multimedia drawings that will have kids rolling in the aisles at this one, while perhaps appreciating their own families' quirks and perks. Says Publishers Weekly, "A terrific pairing of new and veteran talent, as well as a gentle but firm nudge for any child who’s felt the pang of familial embarrassment.”

Can't Getcha Out of My Head! Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship by Edward Hemingway

MAC WAS A GOOD APPLE.

Mac is a solid guy. His shape is perfect; his color is rosy red, But something is missing. He's just a little lonely, even with all those other apples to "hang" with all around him. Then one day something is different.

WHEN MAC WOKE UP, HE WAS COVERED WITH RAINDROPS AND HE WASN'T ALONE.

YOU WON'T BELIEVE THE DREAM HE JUST HAD.

"A FUNNY LITTLE WORM WAS TICKLING ME RIGHT HERE....

AND NOW I CAN'T SEEM TO GET HIM....

... OUT OF MY HEAD."

Will the Worm seems to have taken up residence in Mac's head. But it's a good thing. They are instant friends. Will seems to finish Mac's sentences for him, and they are totally compatible. It's nice to have a friend who's always with you. Until....

"LOOK AT MAC!" SHOUT THE OTHER APPLES.

"HE'S GOT WORMS! MAC'S A ROTTEN APPLE!"

Granny Smith is sour on the whole thing. The crabapples are especially bitter about Mac's new friend, and Mac is persona non grata around the other apples.

Mac has a decision to make. The other apples shun him. They think he must have a hole in his head to hang out with a worm! But Mac knows he's still a good apple!

Edward Hemingway's strange little tale of an odd couple of friends, Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship (G.P.Putnam's Sons, 2012) uses bright 1930s-style cartoon characters with stick arms and legs to illustrate this unusual story of a friendship which may be a bit mind-bending for some readers. A wormy apple may be an off-beat metaphor for a close friendship, but this tale certainly gets the attention of the reader as it looks at all sides of the friendship story. "Tender interactions between Mac and Will (they read books together, and Will finishes Mac’s sentences) make it clear that Mac’s conclusion that he’d rather be “a Bad Apple with Will than a sad apple without him” is the right one," says Publishers Weekly.