By Ben, 14 December 2018

It’s about a worm called Marcus who meets a bird called Laurence, and Laurence wants to go to Kenya because he thinks he is a flamingo.  Laurence doesn’t know how to read a map but because Marcus wants to avoid getting eaten by Laurence, he lies and says he can read maps. If the worm didn’t say that, Laurence would think he was useless and might eat Marcus.  

Marcus sat on Laurence’s back, and then they tried to fly to Kenya. But they passed power pylons and they think it is the Eiffel Tower, and they think they are in Paris, France.  They fall asleep under the stars, then when they woke up, they found themselves in a hole with a Mole, a Squirrel and a Crow. Marcus and Laurence were going to be made into a stew so a Worm and Chicken Stew but then Marcus tried to distract their captors by teaching them how to beatbox.  While they are busy dancing, Marcus and Laurence try to escape and some pigeons crash the party. Lots of worms pop up from the ground and start dancing as well.  The Mole saw the worms and tried to catch them all, but they all dug underground and that included Marcus.  Laurence flew off with a random worm that wasn’t Marcus.  The other worms had crazy twig hats and they started chanting the name of the missing worm (Gwenda).  After the chanting, Gwenda fell down and Laurence came and picked up Marcus again (not a random worm). They flew off again and made it to “Kenya” (you’ll have to read the book to see where they really ended up….).

This book was funny because in the first part, where Laurence was packing, he unscrewed his toilet and packed it (observation: bird don’t need toilets really because they poo everywhere).  Also, they all started beatboxing in the middle of the story.  And in the end, I laughed because Marcus said his dream was to ride a bicycle with a baguette in the basket, but Marcus can’t ride a bicycle because he has no legs, so it ended up being Laurence riding the bicycle and Marcus being the baguette.

This book is suitable for children aged 5 to 9.

Mum’s take: This is a cute, offbeat and at times, surreal, early reader featuring a fast-thinking worm called Marcus and a well-meaning but somewhat deluded chicken-bird called Laurence. The two meet over dinner (Marcus being the dinner), become travel companions and ultimately best friends.  The cartoon illustrations add to the charm of this pleasurable read.