Teach your children about the wonderful world of books, libraries, bookstores and much more with the exciting children’s book series featuring Betsy the Bookworm!
Betsy loves books! Her favorite thing to do is to read books day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
Written by award-winning writer Alice Crann Good and illustrated by accomplished graphic designer Danielle Swick, Betsy the Bookworm books feature important, entertaining and sometimes hilarious life lessons taught by the one and only Betsy the Bookworm, the caring librarian at Bookville’s Reader Street Library!
You can purchase the books from Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and from any of your favorite bookstores, plus from Amazon. Bookstores and libraries can purchase books, even in bulk, at discounted prices from IngramSpark — a Betsy the Bookworm publisher.
Here are the books so far in the Betsy the Bookworm series (with links to purchase on Amazon):
The Books
Betsy the Bookworm’s Book Revolution
Great for children ages 3 to 9, “Betsy the Bookworm’s Book Revolution,” brimming with fun and action, shares Betsy the Bookworm’s passion for print books, libraries and bookstores. Betsy is very smart, fun and adventurous. Her favorite thing to do is to read books day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Betsy comes from a long line of proud book lovers. She traces her ancestors back hundreds of years when worms ate books because they could not read. But, once they learned to read, the worms fell in love with books and became bookworms – little worms that like to read more than anything else in the whole wide world. But Betsy’s world turned topsy-turvy. Bookworms became too busy watching TV, too busy playing video games, sending messages on smartphones and wrapping their little heads in earphones. Her bookworm friends wanted computers, iPads and Wi-Fi.They wished for mobile devices of all kinds. Not books. This is when Betsy decided to have a book revolution! The book takes children for quite a ride with Betsy as she saves print books, libraries and bookstores, multiplying the number of bookworms around the globe. Because of Betsy, books live!
Betsy the Bookworm & Books to the Rescue
Created by two incredible talents, “Betsy the Bookworm & Books to the Rescue” shows children (ages 3 to 9, give or take) how they can turn to books to manage their fears and anxieties, big or small, and how many fears have a simple solution. Throughout the story, the author uses events and conversations that show children how to recognize and deal with things that are different or scary. The book also emphasizes the importance of friendship, compassion and empathy, information and understanding, the significance of creating a plan, and celebrating progress. And, of course, humor! Many of the words and scenes of these little bookworms are really laugh-out-loud hilarious.
Betsy the Bookworm and The Case of the Missing Bookcase
Betsy the Bookworm knows mysteries are great for children. Whodunits turn children into little detectives, encouraging them to use their imaginations, ask questions, collect clues, improve their problem-solving skills, and best of all: Read more mysteries!
“Betsy the Bookworm and The Case of the Missing Bookcase” is an inventive page-turning picture book that children won’t want to put down. And it’s an attention-grabber for parents and teachers to read aloud with dramatic effects for story times. Join bookworms Aaron and Afton, two prankster brothers, on their quest to solve the mystery at the Reader Street Library in Bookville. Betsy the Bookworm needs help with this one. Join in the suspenseful fun! The book suits children ages 3 to 9, give or take.
Betsy the Bookworm and The Spanish Lessons
In “Betsy the Bookworm and The Spanish Lessons,“ Betsy uses Spanish phrases in the story and provides real information on Spanish-speaking countries. Great for children ages 3 to 9, give or take, this new Betsy adventure is full of fun and makes learning Spanish seem exciting and doable for kids — not an easy feat! In her distinctive way, Betsy takes children on a rollicking, educational, international romp, broadening their horizons about different countries, cultures, traditions and the Spanish language. She starts at a place close to home, the library. A librarian, Betsy loves libraries and knows that once children learn how to use libraries, the doors to learning are always wide open. The story unfolds when a new family moves into a house on Betsy’s street in Bookville. They speak Spanish, but where are they from? Find out in “Betsy the Bookworm and The Spanish Lessons.”
What Readers Are Saying
“Finally, someone speaks up about the importance of children reading books, going to libraries and bookstores! This is a super fun book for children to learn how cool it is to be a bookworm, how awesome it is to finish a book and keep reading books. This book is perfect for parents, teachers and librarians to introduce children to the wonderful world of books. The book is great fun and full of action to hold a child’s interest. A very fun read! Thank you, Betsy, for making sure books live on!”
— Matelik
“I’m a librarian for a private school. Loved the historical reference to book worms and how they would eat books. Will build another library science lesson around it! Fun, light heart tone, but a serious message for today’s electronic times!”
— Tricia
“Once again Betsy the bookworm uses her love for books to help a friend in need. Betsy’s young bookworm friend Sofie who obviously has no legs is frightened by a tiny spider with 8 legs. While young readers will love the humor and fanciful adventures in this story, they will also see Betsy listen carefully to Sofie’s fears, point out that everyone is afraid of something, and use books (real information) to help her young friend overcome her fears. When Sofie eventually befriends the little spider, this story makes the particularly relevant point that our fears of things that are different often go away when we get accurate information about them. I am giving this book to an elementary school child. I think it would be an excellent way to begin a conversation about fears and ways to find information to address those fears.”
— Linda
“In ‘Betsy the Bookworm,’ Alice Crann Good achieves what’s virtually impossible in the 21st century: creating a children’s book that’s as enjoyable for the parents as it is for the kids. The moral to the story is that reading books is an invaluable pursuit, but her style is never preachy or dry. She captures the reader’s attention by repeating and emphasizing words, as many parents naturally do when they read aloud to their children, and including clever figurative language, such as ‘as fast as ice cream melts.’ And the illustrations are as vivid and captivating as the writing. Parents and children alike will enjoy the surprise ending, which is heartening no matter how many times you’ve read it. This is a great book to give to every child you know on any occasion!”
— SSCox
“The first Betsy book kicked things off with the vital message about the importance of real books that you can hold in your hands (or worm bodies or whatever). This second Betsy volume continues that message by illustrating how books hold the answers for many of our problems, including fear and misunderstanding. So far I’ve gifted the Betsy books to my granddaughter (just turned 4), and I can’t wait to give her more.”
— Mike
About the Creators
Betsy loves Alice Crann Good, author of the Betsy the Bookworm children’s book series. An award-winning writer, Alice spent more than 20 years as a journalist for Gannett Co./Pensacola News Journal (Florida) and seven years as a communications specialist with a Florida State college. She spent the majority of her career as a prolific journalist, producing features on local, regional, national and global levels. She has won many awards including the Sigma Delta Chi Award in Journalism, the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award and The Best of Gannett. Her journalism career peaked while covering refugee camps in Albania during the Kosovo Crisis in the late ’90s. She traveled with Catholic Relief Services around Albania, including small villages and an orphanage. She hails from a large family and loves children. She lives in Pensacola, Florida with her husband, Thomas. An avid reader, Alice has done much research on the importance of children reading. She focuses on print books, bookstores and libraries.
Betsy loves Danielle Swick, the illustrator who made her world come to life with dynamic drawings and colors. Danielle is a graphic designer/illustrator from Pace, Florida. She received her bachelor’s degree in graphic design from Pensacola State College in 2015. Her clients have included Hellmann’s, Linkedin, Mondelēz International, and Stella Artois. When Danielle isn’t pushing pixels, she is either doodling on her iPad or spending time with her husband and two children, who are both awesome bookworms.
Copyright 2022 Alice Crann Good