Copyright © 1968 by Richard Scarry. Copyright renewed 1996 by Richard Scarry II.

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in different form in 1968 by Random House Children’s Books, New York, with the title The Early Bird.

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  The Library of Congress has cataloged the previous edition of this work as follows:

  Scarry, Richard. The early bird / by Richard Scarry.

  p. cm. — (Step into reading. A step 2 book)

  “Adapted from The early bird, 1968 by Richard Scarry.”

  Summary: After several cases of mistaken identity Early Bird finally finds a worm to play with.

  ISBN 978-0-679-88920-5 (pbk.)

  ISBN 978-0-679-98920-2 (lib. bdg.)

  ISBN: 978-0-449-81705-6 (eBook)

  [1. Birds—Fiction. 2. Worms—Fiction. 3. Animals—Fiction.]

  I. Title. II. Series: Step into Reading. Step 2 book.

  PZ7.S327Ear 2003 [E]—lcac 2002013879

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read

  v3.1

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  First Page

  The sun

  was shining.

  Early Bird hopped

  out of bed.

  He went to the bathroom

  and washed his face.

  Early Bird

  brushed his beak and

  combed his feathers.

  Then he put on

  his blue sailor suit.

  Look at what

  Early Bird

  ate for breakfast!

  “Why don’t you find a worm

  to play with?”

  Mommy Bird said.

  “What is a worm?”

  asked Early Bird.

  “A worm wiggles.

  It lives in a hole

  in the ground,”

  said Mommy Bird.

  So Early Bird went out

  to find a worm.

  “Are you a worm?”

  asked Early Bird.

  “No,” said a bug

  on a flower.

  “I am a ladybug.”

  “Are you a worm?”

  asked Early Bird.

  “No, I am a frog,”

  said a fat fellow on a log.

  “Worms live in holes.”

  Early Bird

  saw something

  in the ground.

  “Are you a worm?”

  asked Early Bird.

  “I am not a worm!”

  said Bunny Rabbit.

  “Worms wiggle all over.

  Go look in the garden.”

  In the garden

  Early Bird saw

  a wiggly thing.

  “Hello, worm,”

  Early Bird said.

  “You mean,

  ‘Hello, mouse tail’!”

  said Freddie Field Mouse.

  Then he scampered

  back into his hole.

  Early Bird began to cry.

  “What’s the matter?”

  said a funny fellow.

  “I can’t find a worm,”

  said Early Bird.

  “Don’t cry,”

  said the fellow.

  “There’s a worm

  right over there.

  Just hop over

  and pull him out.”

  Early Bird took the worm

  in his beak and pulled.

  But the worm was stuck

  in his hole.

  “Give a big pull,

  Early Bird!”

  Pppppop!

  “Why, it’s you!”

  said Early Bird.

  “That’s right,”

  said the fellow.

  “My name is

  Lowly Worm.”

  The sun was going down.

  Early Bird

  had to hurry home

  for supper.

  “Come with me,”

  said Early Bird.

  All the way home,

  Lowly Worm

  and Early Bird

  played jump-worm.

  They had a good supper.

  Lowly Worm ate

  a lot of peas.

  Daddy gave Early Bird

  and Lowly Worm

  a piggyback ride upstairs.

  Early Bird took his bath

  with a sailboat.

  Lowly Worm took his

  bath with his hat on.

  Time to go to sleep!

  Early Bird got into bed.

  Lowly Worm went to bed

  in the flowerpot!

  Good night, Lowly Worm!

  Good night, Early Bird!

 


 

  Richard Scarry, Lowly Worm Meets the Early Bird

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