Even the squeamish will be attracted to The Big Book of Bugs like a bee to a flower, a moth to flame, a dung fly to "animal poo."
Laypeople often use "bug" to describe all the creepy-crawly things that fly, wriggle and sting. But "[t]o a scientist," states the opening spread, "a bug is a particular kind of insect with sharp mouthparts to stab and suck up food." British author-illustrator Yuval Zommer (The Big Blue Thing on the Hill), along with "bug expert" Barbara Taylor, employ the more inclusive definition of "bug" that allows for this gorgeously illustrated explosion of beetles, ladybugs, ants, bees, termites, dragonflies, pond bugs, spiders and more. Bugs have never looked better than in Zommer's colorful, often comical little portraits and glorious natural backdrops, from gardens to ponds.
Each artfully composed, oversized spread teems with life and mini-bug dramas, and the brief text is fun and accessible, a handful of catchy headlines with very short descriptions: "How does a beetle beetle along? A beetle scuttles on six legs. It has a hard shell, like a suit of armor, to keep its wings safe." "How does a butterfly flutter by?" "Does a centipede really have 100 legs?" Along the way, readers will be asked to find "two insects that look like leaves" or a funny blue fly that buzzes through all the pages. (There's a key to all the "Did You Finds...") By the end, two-legged whippersnappers will be convinced that bugs are not only intriguing and marvelous, but useful and deserving of respect. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness