Bugs

Ace Lacewing — whose business is bad bugs — narrates the saga of how he and his trusty sidekick and girlfriend foil the plot to overturn Queenie Bee. The exaggerated illustrations combine with staccato, pun-filled language to create this funny parody of detective stories.

The garden that Eddie and his Mum plant while his younger sister “helps” grows in the warm earth with the help of sun, rain, and beneficial creatures like worms. Eddie learns that other creatures (like slugs) eat plants. This gentle, engaging family story informs and illuminates many aspects of gardening.

Bumbling bees are oblivious to the confusion and downright unhappiness they create as they cheerfully cavort and fly around people and animals. The bees’ antics are captured in lighthearted illustrations. A CD of bee tunes with lyrics is included.

Pictures of Miss Spider’s family are presented in an album format on sturdy pages. The Sunny Patch characters continue to engage young children as they learn about family relations.

Two children play hide and seek outdoors on a warm night. Little do they know that a culex, a newly matured mosquito, is also looking for them. Bordered, color photographs taken with an electron microscope are inserted on black and white photographs of the playing children. Additional information about mosquitoes, micrographs, and more is appended in this fascinating and informative book.

A biologist introduces spiders and their webs through stunning full color close-up photographs and a lively text. Spider facts include the arachnids’ common and scientific names, size, where they live, and what they eat. A technique to find webs and additional sources of information conclude this handsome volume.

From ten to one, little sleepyheads in colorful night clothes count down to sleep; that is, all but one bug who is not sleepy at all. And so begins the countdown again. Actual insects upon which the comical illustrations are drawn are shown and labeled on the end pages.

Beetles come in many shapes and sizes — revealed in rhyming text and luminous illustrations. Readers will enjoy the dynamic interplay of words and pictures in this lively book.