Buzz with the Bugs (I Wish I Could Series) - Softcover

Slack, Gordy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1570982201 ISBN 13: 9781570982200

Publisher: Roberts Rinehart, 1998

Synopsis

Mr. Mantida the insect guide ushers children through the weird and wonderful world of bugs. He teaches the reasons for the magnificent success of the order insecta.

Ages 9-12

About this title

About the Author

Gordy Slack writes about history and the environment for Pacific Discovery, a natural science magazine published by the California Academy Sciences. He is the author Ferdinand Marcos, a biography of the Philippine dictator, Here Today: Portraits of Our Vanishing Species, and co-author of Witness: Endangered Species of North America. Gordy lives in Oakland, California, with his wife Adriana and son Jonah.

C. Buck Reynolds has contributed illustrations to numerous science textbooks. She lives in Berkeley, California.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-As a boy and a girl lie sprawled underneath a tree one lazy summer afternoon, they doze off and dream of shrinking and being escorted by a mantid on an impromptu tour of the insect world. As they visit various habitats, their knowledgeable guide points out one or two common insects, briefly describing a few of their outstanding physical or behavioral characteristics. The creature also offers bits of information about insects in general, touching upon basic structure, complete and incomplete metamorphosis, types of diets, special anatomical features, scientific classification, etc. At the tour's conclusion, the genial predator returns the children to their tree where, restored to normal size, they wake up with an even greater enthusiasm for insects than before. Vivid, realistic paintings illustrate the natural world, but the cartoon depictions of the humans are mediocre at best. The children and their insect guide have no discernible personalities and the few sequences of dialogue are inane. Robert Snedden's What Is an Insect? (Sierra Club, 1993) is a more detailed, better organized introduction of insects. Joanna Cole's entertaining The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive (Scholastic, 1996) is more successful at mixing fact and fiction.
Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Roberts Rinehart
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1570982201
• ISBN 13: 9781570982200
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 40