Looking for a children's picture book

April 18, 2014 1:12 PM

Had a memory just now of a small book I had as a child. I have a vague recollection of it being square and hardback, possibly with a green cover, but the most prominent memory is of a page describing the "wild worms of the Pampas" with a picture of fanged worms in tall grass.

It might have been a fantastical travelogue, or a bestiary, but I really don't recall anything else offhand.

posted by j.edwards to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

This one? (On the Pampas by Maria Cristina Brusca)
posted by w0mbat at 1:39 PM on April 18, 2014

Response by poster: No, this book definitely was presenting them as a fictional creature.
posted by j.edwards at 2:25 PM on April 18, 2014

what year would you have read it? do you remember anything about the illustrations?
posted by changeling at 2:32 PM on April 18, 2014

Response by poster: This would have been in the mid-to-late 80s. I don't recall much, but remember them being perhaps like a line drawing colored in roughly (with e.g. crayon-type color or watercolor).
posted by j.edwards at 6:10 PM on April 18, 2014

Long shot, but maybe you're thinking of Daniel Pinkwater's The Worms of Kukumlima?
posted by theodolite at 10:04 AM on April 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It is undoubtedly "The Worm Book" by Janet and Alan Ahlberg - still available second hand via Amazon and others. We've got a copy knocking around the house somewhere, having recently introduced our children to its lovely quirkiness. You'll remember it as soon as you see the cover, I'm sure!
posted by monster max at 11:32 PM on April 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: That's totally it! Thank you so much.
posted by j.edwards at 2:28 PM on April 20, 2014