Cover Reveal: How to Say Hello to a Worm

How to Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to Outside, published by Rise x Penguin Workshop. The release date is February 22, 2022. Now available for pre-order: click here.

If you want to learn to garden, where do you start? For toddlers and preschoolers, digging in the dirt, observing wildlife, and planting seeds are joyful first steps. Growing plants for food can plant seeds for exploring the wonder of nature, hands-on science inquiry, environmental stewardship and begin a life long joy of healthy eating. 

How to Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to Outside introduces very young children to gardening outdoors. In this picture book, toddlers and preschoolers share practical tips such as how to plant seeds, how to build a twig trellis, and how to know which strawberries are ready to pick and eat, while also offering sage advice on important topics such as how to navigate an encounter with a bee, and how to say hello to a ladybug.

On a deeper level, the children model scientific inquiry: observing, asking questions and hands-on exploring the dirt to find their own answers. The story is set in an urban community garden with a group that could be a neighborhood garden program, day care or preschool class. Readers will delight in follow kids just like them along as the process of growing food plants and learning from each other as the growing season unfolds to a joyful harvest. 

Here we are planting spring peas.

How to Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to Outside was inspired by environmental educator Kari Percival’s experience leading the Early Birds’ Garden Club at the Malden Community Garden with her young children. As they gardened, she noticed what questions children and their parents had, and how they found the answers together. She wrote this book to inspire more kids and their parents to get their hands dirty. 

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How to Say Hello to A Worm: A First Guide to Outside is published by Rise x PenguinWorkshop, whose mission is “to engage, empower, and evolve the youngest readers (ages 0-5) withauthentic, relevant, and elegant books.”

“Publishing books for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers is an immense responsibility. At RISE, we have the power to inspire our readers to become a generation of empowered, confident, self-loving, empathetic, and resilient people… all through the power of exposure. Every book we publish serves to help children feel smart, capable, important, safe, and loved.

Our authors are experts in their subjects, either lived or learned, writing in language that is age-specific. Our illustrators are artists and creators in their own right, making art infused with experience, passion, and purpose. Together, we create books with imagery and information that authentically interest our readers and grow them into people who love books and love themselves. What could be more important than this?”

Follow them on Instagram @risebooks

How to Say Hello to A Worm: A First Guide to Outside is now available for pre-order. To order, click here.