2 Bug Books and 1 Giveaway

 Today I am featuring two more picture books published by Sleeping Bear Press. They're as different as STEM is to wordplay, but remarkably, both feature bugs. 

LIGHT the SKY FIREFLY!

Three years ago I featured Sherry Mary Bestor and Jonny Lambert in their book, Soar High, Dragonfly! Today I'm highlighting another one of their collaborative adventures.

My co-publisher of Talking Story, Mindy Baker, called this informational picture book a fiction/non-fiction hybrid. That's an interesting description.  As many STEM picture books do, the layer of text for younger readers shows a firefly's life cycle using simple words and sentence structure.  Older readers will appreciate the in-depth sidebar descriptions. The different fonts, sizes, and colors of the words also signal to readers which part of the book is meant for them. 

Here is the opening page.

Pitter-patter,

drizzle-drip

Summer rain cools the earth. Bees Buzz. Birds glide.

Notice the simple language and the poetic use of onomatopoeia.  

The accompanying illustration shows the beginning of the firefly's life cycle.

On the next page, the sidebar explains bioluminescence and how some species begin to glow before they are hatched. 

The life cycle continues as the larva grows and hunts prey by injecting a liquid that keeps snails and slugs from getting away.

Fireflies hibernate,

"Shedding an outer shell, or exoskeleton, is called molting."

and transform. 

When he is ready...

out he comes.

Oh my! It's a firefly!

Once they launch into the sky, fireflies face predators.

But, they are prepared. Fireflies shed drops of white blood which taste bitter and can be poisonous. 

Readers learn how the blinking and twinkling (I love that tall rhyme!)

attracts a mate.

Thus, the life cycle continues...and the reading begins!

My 7-year-old granddaughter, Eleanor, reading 
to her 2-year-old brother, Caleb.

Bug on the Rug

I have featured author Sophia Gholz and illustrator Susan Batori on my blog in the past. It's always fun to pick up a book and recognize either the author or illustrator--it's like meeting old friends!

This fun picture book combines early reader phonics instruction with a cute story complete with conflict, humor, and page-turn drama.

The book opens with Pug's "normal."

Pug on a rug,

cozy and snug.

 

Bug--looking real smug. 

 That's when trouble begins. 

Pug growls and howls.

Bug buzzes and scowls.

Bug tries all sorts of tricks to hold unto his new-found rug. But, its owner is NOT happy.

Fortunately, along comes...

Slug--right under Pug. 

Pug slips on Slug,

knocks into Bug.

The three tussle and Slug is stuck in between. He tells it like it is: "You're both being mean." 

Pug discovers Bug's backstory and is appropriately contrite. Apologies are given and received. As Bug is about to leave the scene, Slug comes up with a wise solution: 

"You've cleared the air,

How 'bout you share?"

 

In the end, everyone is happy until along comes....

Cat!

                                                ****

I've tried to write a phonics-based story, and am very impressed with how Sophia Gholz wrote one that perfectly rhymes and tells an engaging story. The hilarious illustrations by Susan Batori complement the story--young children will love the "bug-eyed" animals. And by the way, the cover and end page drawing tells a story of their own. 

GIVEAWAY

I really loved both of these books and wanted to give Light the Sky, Firefly to my grandkids and keep Bug on the Rug as a mentor text. But I know that my readers love winning books. When I discovered that I could take Bug out of my local library, I decided to give it away here.

Leave a comment by October 20 and I'll enter your name to win Bug on the Rug. If you are a follower of my blog, I'll enter your name twice. (If you aren't already a follower and decide to subscribe, then your name will go in the hat three times!). Just let me know what you do in the comments. Please leave your name and email address in the comments if you are new to my blog.

The Dirt Book: Poems About Animals That Live Under Our Feet

From the moment you hold The Dirt Book: Poems About Animals that Live Beneath Our Feet (Holiday House, 2021) in your hands, you realize that this is a unique picture book.  After all, how many books do you turn 90 degrees in order to read it? I can only think of one other, Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens, which my (now) adult children enjoyed as kids! 

In fact, the award-winning author of The Dirt Book, David L. Harrison, admitted that the brilliant design concept was worked out between his editor and the artist, Kate Cosgrove (scroll down to her October 13th post). "It was a delightful surprise to see the finished book," David said. 

If you haven't yet seen this STEM poetry book, you might wonder what I'm so excited about. The reader's experience is enhanced by poems and images that begin at the top of the page and are carried through to the bottom--which shows what is going on in the dirt. And of course, since David is a poet, he uses different types of poetry to highlight these critters.

REVIEW

The book begins with a dirt recipe:

(Parents beware: your children may want to try and duplicate this recipe in your backyard!)

What creatures are found in the dirt?

Readers will meet a doodlebug who creates dirt funnels so that ants slide in and become their lunch; a trap door spider, 

and an earthworm who performs dirty work:

Earthworm squiggles,

earthworm squirms,

earthworm dines on 

dirt and germs.

Earthworm dodges,

earthworm weaves,

earthworm nibbles

dear wet leaves.

Earthworm crawls,

earthworm creeps,

earthworm tunnels,

rarely sleeps.

Under our feet are ants that build cities, grubs which kill grass (the immaculate-lawn owner's nemesis!), mice, moles, bees, toads, and... Warning! Warning! Yellow Jacket Wasps.

 

 

I love this ending spread with a form of a Tristitia poem:

If you are interested in reading David's inspiration for this book and what he hopes readers will take away from it, please see this interview on Deborah Kalb's blog.

CURRICULUM RESOURCE

Readers from pre-kindergarten through third grade will enjoy the illustrations and poetry. The book will be a great asset to classrooms and homeschool educators. Christian parents and teachers, please be aware that the introduction includes the belief that dirt was formed two million to four billion years ago.

GIVEAWAY

If you would like to enter this giveaway, please leave your name AND EMAIL ADDRESS (if you are new to my blog). Educators and media specialists, include where you work and I'll enter your name twice. If you decide to follow my blog, I'll also throw in an additional chance. U.S. postal addresses only. The giveaway ends on New Year's Day at 12 PM. 

BUGS DON'T HUG: Six Legged Parents and Their Kids- A NonFiction Picture Book Review and Author Interview

After I took a webinar with Heather Montgomery on the "Dynamics of Science and Nature Writing," I knew I wanted to share her book, BUGS DON'T HUG (Charlesbridge, 2018) with you. 

Not only is each page filled with interesting and unusual facts, but showing bugs as babies with their mommies and daddies, makes the information completely accessible to even very young readers. 

Check out this opening spread creatively illustrated by Stephen Stone.

From a bug lifted from his crib to four bugs gathered around the breakfast table, young readers will relate to baby bugs. Each laughable concept (a mother bug making scrambled eggs and toast) to it's real counterpart, (a mother cricket who lays special eggs for her babies),  Montgomery and Stone have brought entomology into the pre-school through second grade classroom.

Normal parts of a parent's day are compared with what bugs do. So, "Daddy bugs don't clean up dirty diapers" but,

"At lunchtime bugs don't plea with picky eaters..." But, 

In the same way, the author and illustrator show fantastical versions of bugs not rocking their babies, serving birthday cakes, or tucking their babies in--juxtaposed (with a page turn) of illustrations depicting real bugs doing, well...just about that!

In the end the reader is asked...

Which is answered on the next page:

The back matter includes three pages with information about the nine featured bugs, a short recommended reading list, and an introduction to scientific language. The note to parents emphasizes that our reaction to insects will shape how children will feel about them.

*****

I was super-impressed with the rhythm which Heather created for the reader.  Naturally, I had to ask about her creative process.

CAROL: I love how you set the book up with statements and refutations from the bug world--the pacing and page turns are so cool. Did you envision it like this? Did you request that the book be set up in this manner? 

HEATHER: It took me a long time to figure this book out, but yes, the manuscript I submitted included the vision to use page turns to (1) allow kids a chance to predict (2) help separate the fantastical and realistic depictions. I did not, however, include specific page turn instructions in the manuscript. Later, after the book was acquired and the editor asked for it, I shared a book map to convey this vision (which she loved!). 

I think that in nonfiction books we often put all the information about one animal/topic on one spread and miss the opportunity to use the page turn for drama and as a pause to encourage thinking. As an author, I wanted to take advantage of that aspect of the picture book format; as an educator, I wanted to give kids an easy in to (and adults an excuse to discuss) thinking about the two different presentations of each animal. I'm all about encouraging critical thinking and thought that exagerating the playful/realistic depictions would help kids "get" the need to read words and visuals carefully.

CAROL: And of course the inevitable question...how did you come up with the idea? I guess that's sort of like a chicken and egg type question. Did you know certain bugs took care of their young in these specific ways, or did you imagine the book first? 

I'm a bug nut and am always looking for ways to invite others to love bugs. I had read this fascinating book, The Other Insect Societies by Dr. James Costa, about the subsocial insects. We all know about social insects like ants and bees which live in colonies and about insects who drop their eggs and leave, but Dr Costa's book opened my mind to this world of insects that give some form of parental care. I used up about a thousand sticky notes to flag phenomenal facts in that book and had been trying to figure out a way to incorporate them into a book for kids. One day as I was taking a walk with a friend and her young kids, I found my way into this book. Her son and I found an earwig and, uncomfortable with the creep factor, my friend stepped away.  But when said, "Hey, it's a bug mommy!" she showed a bit of interest. Then I told her son that this mom had to shop in the forest for her kids favorite foods, and my friend stepped closer. By the time I said that the bug mom has to give her eggs a bath every day to keep dangerous fungus away, my friend was leaning over my shoulder to see more. Right then it clicked. 

The book needed to be for adults as well as the kids. For all those grown-ups who feel squeamish when their little one brings them a six-legged treasure . . . For that moment when they want to squash the bug but their child loves it .. .  If I could just give adults new insight, I might be able to turn conflicted moments into moments of shared wonder. 

And then, with a "big idea" firmly in mind, I could finally pick out the useful pieces from my junk heap of research and make progress towards a publishable book.

CAROL: As an adult who feels squeamish about bugs, I love how you "found your way" into this book.  Thanks for introducing adults and children into these many dimension of bug life!

                                                *****        

Congratulations to Danielle Hammelef who won Isabel and Her Colores Go To School, and to Janet Sheets who won The Color Collector. No giveaway this week. My grandchildren are adding BUGS DON'T HUG to their library!