The Big Bug Ball ANNOTATION
Enthusiastic insect participants in the Big Bug Ball draw the reluctant sowbug into their celebration.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Katydids and crickets, come and get your tickets.
It's the night of the Big Bug Ball! There's music and dancing and love is in the air. But one little sowbug is too shy to dance. Is there a perfect partner for her in the crowd?
With its lilting text and radiant pictures, The Big Bug Ball will invite and enchant readers. Rex Barron's artwork has attracted legions of fans since the publication of his first book, Eggbert, the Slightly Cracked Egg, which Booklist called "brimming with fun."
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
In a city park, in the shadow of tulips and blades of grass, preparations for a glamorous party are under way. Ants and dragonflies construct a ballroom floor out of playing cards and movie-candy boxes, saving the jujubes for the buffet table. As night falls, a top-hatted grasshopper invites everyone to participate: "Don't hang from the ceiling./ Don't crawl up the wall./ Dance, dance, dance./ It's the Big Bug Ball." Six-legged couples twirl across the floor, lit (how else?) by fireflies. A smarmy cockroach stands poised to pounce on the smorgasbord, despite the aristocratic grasshopper's disapproval ("Cockroach, cockroach,/ don't eat all the food./ Termite, do not eat the table./ It's so rude!"). A sow bug shyly rolls into a pill at the thought of boogying, but the bug of her dreams coaxes her out of her shell. Lillegard's (The Poombah of Badoombah) rhyming text highlights the sow bug's romantic interlude, while Barron's (who teamed with the author for The Wild Bunch) detailed illustrations develop the narrative with subplots featuring other quirky personalities: the cockroach, dressed in a white disco suit, strikes a Saturday Night Fever pose; a cricket clad in overalls saws the fiddle; a centipede plays piano by running along the keys. Thanks to the variety of lively attendees, the evening--like the volume itself--is a success. Ages 4-8. (May) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
PreS-K-An entertaining, rhyming tale of an insect celebration, set in a city park. The grasshopper master of ceremonies calls all insects to join in the merriment, while "Centipede plays piano./Cricket plays the fiddle./Old Cicada plays the drums./Hey Diddle Diddle!" Clever and colorful, the double-page, detailed illustrations reveal the assorted critters as they haul various items from a garbage can to create a platform for dancing in the tulip bed. As night approaches, lightning bugs perch on fork handles to illuminate the dance floor, which is composed of candy boxes covered with playing cards. There is even a Saturday Night Fever John Travolta cockroach who takes center stage with his partner, and a bashful sow bug who learns to dance and finds romance. For a thematic storytime, use this with Linda Lowery's Twist with a Burger, Jitter with a Bug (Ticknor & Fields, 1995) and have, well, a ball!-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A good, steady beat drives this celebration of bugs displaying some mighty fine footwork. It is a nighttime gathering of dragonflies and butterflies, fleas and bees, ants and crickets, all with one thing on their minds: "Come one, come all!/Dance, dance, dance./It's the Big Bug Ball!" A sow bug admits what is evidently most unbuglike: "I don't know how to dance." The rest of them won't stand for it; they show her some fancy moves, introduce her to another sow bug, and soon, even the Grasshopper Hop is within her grasp. Lillegard's text is ripe for a number of rhythms, from lilting to dangerous, and she keeps the story simple. Barron's artwork hums along, and he throws in a few sight gags that will please older readers, such as the cockroach dressed in whites and striking a familiar disco pose. He even provides a little nature lesson with his anatomically correct bugs. (Picture book. 4-8)
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