Hermie: A Common Caterpillar by Max Lucado
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I like Max Lucado’s Max on Life (and he’s a great source of quotable quotes on Twitter) so I thought I’d try his children’s book Hermie: A Common Caterpillar.
I was hoping for a children’s classic, the kind that is written for kids but has the adults raving. Unfortunately, Hermie feels like a rip-off of a real children’s classic–The Ugly Duckling, translated in Christian-ese.
Instead of a duck feeling so ugly, Hermie is a caterpillar bemoaning the fact that he is so “common.” I’m not sure if being “common” is a main issue for children–in fact, don’t they like to fit in and avoid sticking out like a sore thumb?
The ugly duckling, meanwhile, was taunted by others and made to feel ugly. I find this more believable, as I’m pretty sure children don’t feel ugly (or common, for that matter) simply on their own.
Throughout the story, Hermie and his fellow commoner Wormie compare themselves with others and pray to God to be made un-common. The end, of course, is predictable: Hermie becomes a beautiful swan–oh wait, no, a butterfly.
Related articles
- Like a Common Caterpillar (multipurposemom.com)
On my bookshelf 
interesting view….didn’t really think of it that way! Thanks for the link back..;)
I might have too dark a mind for children’s books 😛 Btw, I love the “multipurpose mom” title, I think it’s a good way to describe all the different hats moms have to wear.