How to Eat Fried Worms is the title of a children's book written by Thomas Rockwell, first published in 1973

1973 in literature

The year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...

. It was later turned into a CBS Storybreak

CBS Storybreak

CBS Storybreak is a Saturday morning anthology television series that originally aired on the CBS network during the 1985 season. Hosted by Captain Kangaroo's Bob Keeshan , the episodes are half-hour animated adaptations of some of the most beloved children's books published at the time of airing,...

episode in the mid-1980s, and a movie of the same name

How to Eat Fried Worms (film)

How to Eat Fried Worms is a 2006 American film based on the 1973 children's book of the same name by Thomas Rockwell. It was produced by New Line Cinema with Walden Media. Development began in 1998 and theatrical release for the U.S. and Canada was August 25, 2006. The DVD for the film was released...

 in 2006. Because the novel's content--the idea of eating worm

Worm

The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...

s as part of a bet

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

--is thought to be disgusting by some, it has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association

American Library Association

The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

's list of most commonly challenged books in the United States of 1990-2000 at number 96.

Particular content in the book has been censored among various editions as well; 1970s editions of the book included a single use of the phrase you're a bastard, which was replaced with you're a fink in later editions.

The story continues in its sequel How to Fight a Girl.
10-year-old Billy must eat 15 worms in 15 days to win a bet for $50.