As the lazy summer days melt into ideas of fall and back-to-school, I thought featuring a book that parents can still use during these last few days of summer, to not only educate, but entertain their wee ones, was a good plan on my part. Thank-you-very-much! Ah...a little self-pat on the back was totally necessary there hehe.
Don't Squash That Bug! The Curious Kid's Guide to Insects, is written by Natalie Rompella, and features a great introduction to all types of cool and creepy bugs. The first few pages include a great explanation of how the color-coded pages are set up, as well as a word list. Each insect is displayed through fabulous photographs, with sections on their specific order, where they live, why they're important, and what types of bugs they might be related to around the world.
Lots of fact boxes, easy to read text done in larger letters, and great explanations of all the different "big words" and meanings make this a really nice choice for beginners. There is a lot of information on each page, which typically I would complain about, as I think cleaner pages are just easier for focusing, however with this age level the amount of "stuff" is great for keeping little eyes hooked on the page.
Grab this book from the library and set your kids off in the backyard or park and see if they can locate some insects from the book. Tips on how to find them are in the last few pages. A fun afternoon activity!
To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.
Don't Squash That Bug! The Curious Kid's Guide to Insects
Natalie Rompella
32 pages
Non-Fiction
Lobster Press
9781897073506
March 2007
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Hi Amanda, thanks so much for the excellent write-up! This book is a favourite of my 6-year old - she started enjoying it back when she was 4 and just liked to look at the pictures, and now she really gets into the text. It's fun having a girl who actually thinks bugs are interesting! We've published two other books by this author: "Famous Firsts" and the new picture book, "Edgar, Allan, and Poe, and the Tell-Tale Beets." Let me know if you'd like to check them out! More info is at http://www.lobsterpress.com.
How fun!! thanks for the tip - I think this is right up my 3 year old's ally...
I'd love to have those books. I run a periodic feature called "From My Reader" and I linked to this post. http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/2009/08/from-my-reader_10.html
I used this book for a summer program I did, and one of the kids (who has some trouble interacting socially) spent quite a bit of time reading this during the first part of the program and then the rest of the program quoting cool bug facts back to us. He thought it was great, the other kids thought it was great, and this book became one of my firm favourites. Other kids since have also really enjoyed it when I bring it out for individual reading time.