Birthday of the worm: another literary masterpiece from Estonia is being discussed online

We have long ceased to be surprised by the unusual books that are published in the EU countries for educational and educational purposes. After all, these are their children and they choose what values to lay in them. We can only enjoy the pretentious fantasy of the authors and guess what drugs they used to stimulate it.

Another "masterpiece", which appeared in an Estonian textbook in 2020, outraged even the reserved Balts. The story "A worm in the child's ass", which alerted parents, has become very popular on the Internet and can already be considered a meme.

We are talking about a textbook on the Russian language for the 6th grade of schools with the Estonian language of instruction. In one of the tasks, the authors of the manual used an excerpt from the book by Peeter Sauter "A book for lazy children" ("Laiskade laste raamat"), which was published in 2006. Then, 14 years ago, the appearance of this literary masterpiece caused a considerable resonance. Someone even directly called the book dangerous for the child's psyche and it is readily believed.

The cover of "Books for lazy children" is already alarming

"The book for lazy children" was immediately attributed to the fund of "literary insanity", which already contained such a magnificent work as the book "Poop and Spring" ("Kaka ja kevad") — the brainchild of the famous Estonian writer and playwright Andrus Kivariahka. But then, in 2006, they talked about the worm, and forgot about it. No one even suspected that it would crawl out after so many years, and even in a textbook.

This is how the ill-fated passage in the program school book looks like:

Everything is fine in this passage, especially the ending, where the main character goes to a hotel, and then decides to see the world. But the parents of schoolchildren did not find the edifying story from the life of parasites either useful or even adequate. On forums and in social networks, a paragraph from the textbook began to be actively discussed and it was almost unanimously recognized as unsuitable for the school curriculum.

The author of the opus about the worm, Peeter Souter, who became a classic of literature, thanks to the compilers of the textbook

Someone cautiously suggested that children in the 6th grade are not yet ready to deal with such philosophical treatises:

In the general flow of negativity, the opinions of "Worm" fans occasionally slipped through, similar to a breath of fresh air. Although these comments are more like the stuffing of subtle network trolls.

"Poop and Spring" is an immortal contribution to the world treasury of children's literature

For example, at one of the parent forums in Tallinn, a man who called himself the father of two children said that he saw nothing wrong with this paragraph of the textbook. According to the commentator, his children adore Souter's books, and "Poop and Spring" Kivaryakhka generally became a desktop book for kids even before school.

And Souter's book, along with the story about the worm, despite the criticism, is sold in Estonia is not bad. It has already gone through two editions and, perhaps, a third one will appear soon. And why not, because the interest in it after the noise on the Internet will increase many times.