There’s a Hair in my Dirt – A Worm’s Story

Description:

There is a lesson to be told to all who read this book by Gary Larson, the “Far Side” cartoonist, as he takes us on a hilarious worm tale told by a father worm to his son. Disgusted that there is a hair in his dirt, the worm son is fed up with his lowly, insignificant life. With a puff from his pipe of dirt, father worm decides it’s time for his son to learn the story of the maiden who lived in the forest. This maiden believes she is a friend of Mother Nature, so while walking along the forest path collecting nuts from a nearby tree, she invites the gray squirrels over for an easy snack.

Little did the maiden know that the gray squirrels were more aggressive, and were taking over the native red squirrel population. (This is emphasized by a cartoon red squirrel leaning against a tree and surrounded by three large, tough, cigarette-smoking gray squirrels — one wearing a tee shirt saying, “I kicked Thumper’s ass!).

As she continues her walk, the maiden stumbles upon a trail of ants carrying their eggs and admires the care they are providing for the next generation. What she doesn’t know is these are Amazon ants, who live in all parts of the world and enslave other ants. The enslaved ants will be raised to work and forage for the Amazon ants.

Oh dear Maiden of the Forest, what do you know about Mother Nature? We human beings are often like the
maiden, believing we are assisting nature and thinking we know what’s best. So many pages of this book are
lessons that teach with humor only Gary Larson could create. Seeing the vivid drawings and reading about the gut-splitting goings on of the critter characters makes this a delightful book for naturalists to enjoy.

-Rebecca Luczyk, SCVN Librarian

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