Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! ANNOTATION
A nonsense rhyme introduces children to familiar bugs. Includes a fun facts sections.
FROM THE CRITICS
Parents-Choice
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! has been chosen as the 1999 Parent's Choice Recommended winners!
Parent Council
Nothing fascinates children more than bugs! Vibrant paper collages illustrate spotted ladybugs, butterflies that flutter, and many more. The book includes an actual size buy chart and a "bug-o-meter" which lists the basics about each featured species.
Publishers Weekly
Barner (Dem Bones) creates an enthusiastic book crawling with splashy bugs. From the eager, impatient first line--"Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! I want to see bugs!"--the book's narrative voice grabs attention, but it's the butterfly-bright multimedia artwork that makes this book soar. Using cut and torn paper, pen and ink, watercolors and a computer, Barner creates compositions that buzz with color. The "fuzzy caterpillar with tiny feet" has a slightly skewed smile, buggy eyes and a long red body that swirls across a lemon-yellow spread; funky amoeba-like blobs floating by echo the electric colors and irregular, concentric circles of the caterpillar's spots. A spread with "actual size bugs" adds a more educational note, and older kids can study the "Bug-O-Meter," a chart that shows whether or not the eight featured creatures can fly, the number of legs they have, etc. Aspiring entomologists will develop a friendly, appreciative attitude toward the bugs they're most likely to encounter, and Barner's playful use of colors, shapes and words may even convert bug foes. Ages 2-6. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Children's Literature - Childrens Literature
Bob Barner knows how closely little ones identify with little bugs and his latest book reinforces that fascination. In his colorful torn paper collage style, he combines a simple text with illustrations that are amazingly accurate. The Bug-O-Meter at the end of the book allows future entomologists to begin a chart of the various insects and compare their size on the "Actual Size Bug Chart" at the back of the book. They will know the answers to questions about each bug's number of legs, where it lives, whether it flies, and if it stings. The backyard and schoolyard will become sanctuaries for bugs and their young protectors. 1999, Chronicle, Ages 2 to 6, $12.95. Reviewer: Jan Lieberman
School Library Journal
PreS-Budding entomologists will fly to this book like bees to honey. In language simple enough to appeal to toddlers, the whimsical rhyming text describes buzzing bees, fuzzy caterpillars, hopping grasshoppers, fluttering butterflies, and curly roly-poly bugs. The cut-paper collage illustrations vibrate with color, showing a busy world full of big-eyed, smiling insects that seem ready to crawl off the page. The book ends with actual-sized illustrations of the creatures and a "Bug-O-Meter" that lists a few of their characteristics, such as where they live and how many legs they have. Preschool teachers can pair this book with Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Philomel, 1969) for a fun way to teach simple facts about insects. The bright colors and easy text will be a hit at storytime. Buy multiple copies and start saving egg cartons and pipe cleaners for insect-related crafts.-Dawn Amsberry, formerly at Oakland Public Library, CA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Home
