Marty McGuire Digs Worms review

Marty McGuire's third-grade class has a special assignment: Save the Earth! Even more exciting, the best project wins a special award. Marty's pretty sure her classmates' ideas won't stand a chance against her plan to turn the garbage from the school cafeteria into fertilizer. All she needs is a little help from her teammate and best friend, Annie--and the worms in her grandma's garden.

When Marty arrives at school, there are three terrific things on the "Third-Grade Stars Today" list. First, it's Monday!  Next, Marty is the classroom helper for the week and lastly, a special assembly is scheduled before lunch. The students learn that the interesting person presenting is Amelia Ranidae, a woman who devotes her life to keeping the planet green. She has a special challenge for the school she calls the "Save the Earth Project". She encourages the students to each come up with a way to help the environment and will return in a few weeks to present an award for the best plan. Marty knows that she will have the best idea when she and Annie come up with a way to help reduce the amount of garbage thrown away in the cafeteria.  They set up a composting bin, with worms included, for the students food scraps. By observing daily, they will journal the progress they find. Unfortunately, it is turning out to be a longer process than Marty thought. She is trying hard to be patient but when a few things don't go as planned, Marty finds herself discouraged and wonders if this was the best idea for a project after all.

Marty Mcguire is a great character who doesn't mind rolling up her sleeves and getting her hands dirty in this book! This was a wonderful story that has a lot of learning potential for its' readers. I liked that it teaches young kids about the importance of taking care of our environment and inspiring awareness to keep our planet green. It offered a wide variety of vocabulary words pertaining to nature such as; habitat, indigenous,inhospitable, observation and environment, just to name a few. It also instructs the reader about building a composting bin and how worms play an important role in the fertilization process. All the kids in Marty's classroom came up with some very creative and funny ways to help the planet that stays true to a third grade classroom experience.  I also like that Marty makes mistakes and she learns and grows from them. There are also some wonderful adult characters where each one adds wisdom, guidance and encouragement, something kids really need in their everyday life. This is a nice chapter book series where the author really captures the spirit of the character giving her a believable voice that kids will not only find likable but learn something new as well. There is an introductory book called Marty Mcguire that kids may want to read first. I am looking forward to a third book someday hoping Marty's adventures keep going strong.  I think this is a "just right book" for ages 8-9 .~

Title: Marty Mcguire digs worms!
Author: Kate Messner
Pub. Date: April 2012,  Scholastic
Genre: realistic fiction, chapter book
Paperback, 161 pgs.