About Insects: A Guide for Children (About... (Peachtree))
Grade 1-3-This title offers separate, full-page watercolor paintings of 18 different kinds of insects in their natural habitats. Insects depicted include: silverfish, giant walkingstick, black horse fly, elephant stag beetle, gladiator katydid, honey bee, and luna moth. A single line of large, bold-print text appears on the page opposite each illustration; on the bottom right-hand corner, a caption provides the common name of the species depicted. Each simple sentence or fragment describes either a general characteristic shared by all insects, or a special characteristic of a particular group. Additional bits of general information about insects as well as miscellaneous facts about the featured species are appended. As in About Birds (1991), About Mammals (1997), and About Reptiles (1999, all Peachtree), the realistic watercolor paintings are this book's main focus. They are bright, attractive, and nicely varied in composition. However, despite their visual appeal, the artwork sometimes fails to illustrate the text effectively. For example, the painting of mantis nymphs emerging from an egg case does not match the text, which reads, "Young insects hatch from eggs." As no eggs are visible, this statement is apt to be confusing. Sandra Markle's Creepy, Crawly Baby Bugs (Walker, 1996) provides more detailed information on insect anatomy, reproduction, and behavior and is illustrated with excellent, close-up color photographs.Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public LibraryCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.