Customer Reviews

There's a Hair in My Dirt! A Worm's Story

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Gary Larson has wrote a masterpiece!! This is his best work yet. Not only is it delightfully entertaining, it's educational. The book "There's a Hair In My Dirt!," has all the beautiful illustrations we are used to of his. I recommend this book to everyone who loves nature, or is a fan of Gary Larson's brilliant work. This is the best book Iv'e ever read, you'll never be able to stop laughing!!

We bought this book at the Tourist Information Center at Pt. Reyes in Northern California. It was among books about the ocean, lighthouses, scenic spots in that area, and science. My husband, being a devout Gary Larson fan, had to have it. I'm not a fan but I am a grandma to 5 kids from 10 to 1, so it seemed like a cute book they would like to have read to them, or read themselves. It is such a delightful story as well as being educational. The illustrations are great! We immediately began counting all the people we know who would also enjoy it, adults and kids alike. It will be something we buy in bulk this Christmas. Try it, you'll like it!

Off-the-wall cartoonist/satirist/humorist Gary Larson's "There's a Hair in My Dirt! A Worm's Story" is as effective a life science text as any that might be in a middle school or high school classroom today. Not only does Larson provide some biological facts but he does it in such an entertaining manner that the reader, especially the young one, may not realize that he/she is learning something. Also, the illustrations require some close scrutiny for many of the jokes lie in the remote corners of the pages.

For those of us that claim to be concerned for the environment, this book turns some preconceptions topsy-turvy.

As an educator, I just can imagine what Larson could do to ignite the language arts, math, and the social studies.

We need more tales of "Harriet" in public and private schools!

He could work wonders for the classroom!

When the worm family (Father Worm, Mother Worm, and Junior Worm) sits down to dinner, Junior makes a horrible discovery: there's a long golden hair in his dirt. This is the last straw, if it's not birds trying to eat them or fishermen trying to put them on hooks, it's dirt for three meals a day, and now THIS! Puffing thoughtfully on his pipe, Father begins to unravel a story to Junior, a story about a beautiful (if rather stupid) young maiden named Harriet, and her adventures in the forest. There's a lesson for Junior, a lesson that makes him glad that he's a worm.

Gary Larson is a well-known artist, famous for his Far Side cartoons, and who but him could make a wonderful, uplifting story about worms? OK, it's pretty kooky. Make sure you study each picture, because Gary slipped something extra into most of them. This is a goofy story, one that will please anyone with an offbeat sense of humor. I highly recommend it, it's great!

My grandfather once told me that when he was a boy, schools took field trips to the local slaughterhouse. There, the children saw how the food they ate was turned, violently, from a frolicking lamb or cow into tender vittles. Today we've become so separated from our means of survival that most of us can't even fathom the life-and-death struggles that are going on around us every day.

With characteristic candor and capability, Gary Larson takes us on his own version of the slaughterhouse fieldtrip, reminding us of the cutthroat, utilitarian, and utterly unromantic reality of survival in this world. All the while, he helps that bitter pill slide down by coating it with a healthy dose of belly laughs-of the kind that used to make us spit up our coffee when we read The Far Side in the morning paper.

But humans are not the focus of this long-awaited Larson gem (though the main characters are hilariously anthropomorphized-right down to the father "smoking" a pipe filled with dirt). The food being consumed here is not meat but soil, and the young protagonist, an earthworm with adolescent angst, must come to terms with his own role in nature.

With a Zen-like pragmatism and a confidence that comes from his biological background, Larson challenges us to put our species pride aside, and to enjoy this natural world for what it is, not for what we want it to be.

My wife is an elementary school teacher, and I discovered this book on one of the science shelves in her classroom, near the rotting pumpkin and the ant farm. It's a great teaching tool for children, but I would recommend it for students of all ages.

This book should be required reading for every introductory biology course.

This extremely insightful and riotously funny book is written on multiple levels, and it works for children aged five through 105. Larson hits the mark when we points out that "loving nature is not the same as understanding nature." Though this story is dressed up in a children's picture book format, it contains poignant lessons for children, professional scientists and teachers, and the general population. Be sure to read the introduction by E.O. Wilson. A grand book through and through.

I have read this book to my students and they are still laughing and scientifically informed. I hope Mr. Larson continues to write such wonderful books. Thank you, Gary!

...this is it! If you ever been frustrated by people who love nature but don't understand it, then you will want to join Harriet on her journey of misunderstanding. Written in the same witty style that we have come to love from Larson, this is a wildely entertaining "children's book" that has me laughing and exclaiming "Amen" at the same time. The genius of this book is even recognized by Harvard Ecologist E.O. Wilson, author of the forward!

I bought a box of these to give out to all of my friends and family. Simply put, it is my all-time favorite book!

This is a fantastic book for Middle School or High School soil study! It is hillarious. The captions are for the older student, but still absolutely fitting!