This retelling of an old Northumberland folk tale follows the Lambton family and their misfortunes. When John goes fishing on a Sunday, everyone warns him it is a bad idea. He thinks that catching a worm is as far as his bad luck will go, but little does he know the disaster that will follow. As the worm grows to monstrous proportions the villagers are terrorized and live in fear of their lives, until at last John learns how he can rid them of the monster. Wonderfully depicted by Pierre Kleinhouse, this sorrowful tale is full of magic, monsters and misery. TreeTops Greatest Stories offers children some of the worlds best-loved tales in a collection of timeless classics. Top children's authors and talented illustrators work together to bring to life our literary heritage for a new generation, engaging and delighting children. The books are carefully levelled, making it easy to match every child to the right book. Each book contains inside cover notes to help children explore the content, supporting their reading development. Teaching notes on Oxford Owl offer cross-curricular links and activities to support guided reading, writing, speaking and listening.

 

This book is part of a book series called Oxford Reading Tree-Treetops Greatest Stories .

This book is aimed at children in primary school. This book is at Oxford Level 8. This Oxford level 8 is equivalent to book band purple. This book is part of a reading scheme, meaning that it is a book aimed at children who are learning to read.

There are 24 pages in this book. This book was published 2016 by Oxford University Press .

Michael Morpurgo is one of the UK's most well-known and best-loved authors. A prolific writer, he has won numerous awards and was the Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005. His world-famous War Horse met with international acclaim and has been made into a stage play and a film. Kimberley Reynolds is Professor of Childrens Literature at Newcastle University. She has advised on and contributed to many children's literature broadcasts, programmes, films and other projects, including for the V&A Museum, British Library and British Council. In 2013 she won the International Brothers Grimm Award for an outstanding body of research into children's literature. She is a trustee of Seven Stories, the National Centre for Childrens Books in Newcastle and was a founder-member of the UK Childrens Laureate. Jeanne Willis is a favourite children's author, and she also writes for television. Michael Morpurgo has brought together poems by writers as diverse as Spike Milligan and Stevie Smith, John Lennon and Jo Shapcott.