How to Eat Fried Worms


How to Eat Fried Worms is a children's book written by Thomas Rockwell, first published in 1973. The novel's plot involves a couple of students eating worms as part of a bet. It has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association's list of most commonly challenged books in the United States of 1990-2000 at number 96. It was later turned into a CBS Storybreak episode in the mid-1980s, and a movie of the same name in 2006.
The story continues in two sequels: How to Fight a Girl and How to Get Fabulously Rich.

Plot summary

Alan challenges Billy to eat a worm a day for 15 days. The winner gets $50. Tom prepares the worms in a variety of ways to make them more appetizing, using condiments such as ketchup, mustard, horseradish, and maple syrup. His parents eventually find out about the bet, but he is allowed to finish and eventually wins. Billy drives his newly-won mini-bike over to his usual lunch-spot and we hear that he's gotten so used to eating worms, he now can't stop.