Earl & Worm #2: The Big Mess and Other Stories

K-Gr 2–In this second outing for Pizzoli’s odd couple, messy Earl and tidy Worm spend a day going through the junk pile Earl is throwing away. Worm comes across plenty of salvageable items and returns home at the end of the day to find that she now has a mess of her own to clean up, which makes her happy. The next story sees Earl finding a lucky penny. When the rest of his day casts the penny’s luckiness into doubt, chipper Earl understands that his friendship with Worm is his true luck. In the final story, Earl and Worm decide to stay up all night so they can watch the sunrise, but staying awake turns out to be more difficult than they anticipated. Readers will find their expectations joyfully upended at every turn in this charming title. Each line of text is limited to just a few words, making generous use of white space for new readers. Pizzoli’s familiar, cheerful cartoon-style complements the gentle humor of the text.