Very Worried Walrus

Sweet Pickles #23

by Richard Hefter

Worried Walrus worries a lot—especially about riding a bicycle. His imagination tries to take the best of him while he works to overcome his fears with the help of his friend, Pig.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Kids

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1977

About the author

Richard Hefter met children's author Jacquelyn Reinach in 1975. He was contracted at the time to write 26 books for the publishers Holt. After the contract expired he formed a publishing venture, Euphrosyne, with Reinach.

He is known as the creator of Stickybear and as the co-creator (with Reinach) and illustrator for the Sweet Pickles[1] library of books, and for the Strawberry Library of First Learning. The Sweet Pickles series went on to sell 40 million copies. Hefter described his aim as "trying to help children understand things like shyness, laziness and embarrassment in a humorous way."

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Walrus overthinks everything. He is worried about life and it almost keeps him from living. Luckily Pig is there to help push him through. Walrus gets out of his head and does ride his bicycle and it’s all ok.

I have found that I do this to a degree too. I can let my head tell me all the reasons I shouldn’t do something and sometimes I miss out on something fun. As I’ve aged, I’m much better about doing things and life is more fun. The Pig is a fun character. I want to read her book.

[Minter Shrader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a captivating tale about a Walrus that was so worried about everything that he couldn't enjoy his life. ****Spoiler alert**** He realizes in the end that things were not as bad as his imagination suggested they were.

[Mykle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the only book in the series I ever read, and my wife hates the art, but i think it's brilliant. Walrus is more than worried, he's a paranoid hypochondriac! And then he's cured by a bicycle, which i obviously love.

But what makes the book is this fantastic imagination of just how incredibly wrong a bike ride can go. Sometimes I play Worried Walrus with my daughter: "if you don't brush your teeth, your teeth will turn yellow and fall out, and you'll choke on a tooth and be rushed to the hospital, and you'll get a staph infection and your insurance will run out and you'll be forced onto a slave-team of underage organ thieves shipped to third-world countries to pay off their medical bills, but then you'll be caught end up in a Turkish prison ..." Et cetera.

[Jill Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was an extremely anxious child and when I was visibly worried my mother would describe me as having a "Very Worried Walrus" face and suggest I re-read this book. This happened approximately 6,000 times before I started kindergarten. I am now an extremely anxious adult with a permanent Very Worried Walrus face. I still love Walrus, probably because I became Walrus when I grew up.

[Maggie Mattmiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glad I found this one at Goodwill! Will use with students in talking about anxiety/worrying.

Just upped this to 5 stars after using with students, grade 1, grade 5... Love the conversation that we can have after reading it (and while reading it.) Great life lesson that sometimes things happen, but it's not always worst case scenario, things will be ok, etc.

[Nika · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mom bought me what I recall a whole shelf full of the Pickels Series book as a child. They came in the mail and always made me happy to get a new one. They were short sweet and had nice colorful cartoon pictures and the characters were cute and plentyful.

[Lajune Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice book. I enjoyed it a lot and think that it is a good read for children especially those who might be having a hard day and seem to be worried about something. This is good for them and others students who might be having a bad day and can help them cheer up.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the Walrus.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

These 'sweet pickles' books I remember as a child and I found this one and read it to my 3 year old grandbaby. Such great memories of the stories came back to me. The story itself was 'okay' the illustrations are such that a 'non reader' could make up their own story by looking at the pictures. Walrus was a bit 'over the top' with his worriedness but did think up a crazy adventure about riding his bike.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why aren't these books still in print?! Perhaps this book has colored my personality, but I feel you, Walrus. I know what Pig is saying, but it's not as easy as all of that.

[Dakotah Sporing · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book can be used to to teach cause and effect very easily. It has some good illustrations as well. I chose this book because it has a silly story children may be able to relate too.

[Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

We listened to the kid friendly ipad version of this book. The narrative was so funny. It kept my son entertained and engaged!

[Jennifer B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walrus learns to live a little.

[Beatrice Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic

[Julie Grace Immink · Rating 5 out of 5]

My spirit animal is a very worried walrus.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought when I was done reading this: I have some things in common with this walrus! I tend to worry overly much about the possibilities. And then things usually turn out better than expected, though perhaps not without mishap. Fun book, including the end pages! :)

[Lilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was cute. I thought the walrus was going to go to the doctor, and I was really worried about that. He was okay though

[Ellenjsmellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Sweet Pickles.

[Don Gubler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Balance caution with...?

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to get one book a month from the Sweet Pickle series in the mail when I was a kid. I rated this book on how young me enjoyed it. It was not my favorite of the series. I spent more time making up my own stories based on the town map in the book. As an adult, I did not enjoy it as much, but I did appreciate the lesson about worrying.