Wriggle and Buzz : My First Book of Bugs

Huge bird-eating spiders. Massive teams of tiny termites building high-rises out of mud. Get ready for a big, bold compendium of bugs sure to have kids gleefully shouting “Eww!”

Whether you’re nibbled by a lizard
or you’re gobbled by a frog,
for a bug, being eaten is part of the job!

What was the first animal to walk on land? Or fly through the sky? The answer is a bug—and for every human on earth today, there are more than 1.4 billion of these ubiquitous creatures. From the New Zealand glowworms whose slimy “fairy lights” catch flies and gnats to the earthworms whose little tunnels bring water and air to plants, from the ladybugs keeping vegetable gardens safe from pesky pests to the common fly working as clean-up crew for the stinky stuff we’d rather not think about, this bright, bouncy introduction to bugs shows the ways that we need them more than they need us. Written with Simon Mole’s trademark energy and illustrated with Adam Ming’s pitch-perfect humor, this collection of thirty witty poems about these often-misunderstood creatures provides all the facts kids could want to know about bugs, and then some. Readers seeking practical tips on how to help bugs will find information in the back matter.

Simon Mole is a children’s poet and a UK National Poetry Day ambassador. He is the author of Stomp and Chomp: My First Book of Dinosaurs, illustrated by Matt Hunt; I Love My Cat and I Love My Bike, illustrated by Sam Usher; Kites, illustrated by Oamul Lu; and other books for children. His interactive tutorial videos delight thousands of children and teachers each year. He lives in England.

Adam Ming is the illustrator of Down the Hole by Scott Slater, Where Are You Really From? Our Amazing Evolution, What Race Really Is, and What Makes Us Human by Adam Rutherford, and other books for children. He now lives with his wife and daughter in Kuala Lumpur.