Sea Shell

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Sea Shell

Sea Shell, Sea Shell,
  Sing me a song, O please!
A song of ships, and sailor men,
  And parrots, and tropical trees,
Of islands lost in the Spanish Main
Which no man ever may find again,
Of fishes and corals under the waves,
And sea-horses stabled in great green caves.
Sea Shell, Sea Shell,
Sing of the things you know so well.

~ Amy Lowell

Have you ever put a sea shell to your ear? I have, hoping to hear the ocean. I didn't have any luck with that... but maybe I should have been listening for a song instead!

Noon

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Noon

You have
held the hot sun
so long that it has bleached
you white.  This morning you carried
it up

to chase
the dark shadows
away, but now you have
pushed it so high that it sits there
gloating,

staring
with one white eye
on the sweltering earth,
laughing at the wildfire it sets
ablaze.

~ Myra Cohn Livingston, 

from the book Sky Songs

This poem makes me think of sizzling summer days here in the midwest.  We've had several of them this year!  I especially like the final stanza and the image of the sun as a white eye staring down at us.  What words come to your mind when you think of the sun in summertime?

Zucchini

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Zucchini

Zucchini

meeny

miney

moe.

Plant a seed

and watch it grow.

Eeny

meeny

makes a lot.

Like a magic

cooking pot.

Eeny

meeny

munch a lot.

Zucchini every meal --

you've got:

Zucchini bread.

Zucchini spread.

Zucchini casseroles.

Zucchini pies.

Zucchini fries.

Zucchini dinner rolls.

Zucchini juice.

Zucchini mousse.

Zucchini jam and scone.

Zucchini hash

and succotash.

Zucchini

meeny

miney

MOAN.

~ George Shannon, 

from Busy in the Garden

This is such a fun poem! I love all the rhymes, the sounds of the words, and the images, too.  I happen to love zucchini, but I also know that sometimes gardens produce an overabundance of good food, until you just don't know what to do with it all.  Our family has a small raised garden at the moment.  We don't have any zucchini growing in it, but we have lots and lots of tomatoes.  As much as we all love tomatoes, we may be moaning about them soon!

Ready

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Ready

I'm ready to be a grade older.

I'm ready to ride the bus.

I'm ready to meet my teacher.

(I hope she's ready for us.)

I'm ready to use these pencils.

I'm ready to make new friends.

I'm a little bit sad

but I'm ready.

Summer always ends.

~ Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

It's that time of year again. I don't know about you, but "back to school" has always been a little bittersweet for me. Like this poem says, I'm sad that summer's ending... but I'm also excited and ready for a new school year. How do you feel about school starting up again?

To read more of Ms. VanDerwater's wonderful poetry, please visit her blog The Poem Farm. It's one of my favorite online spaces!

August Ice Cream Cone

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August Ice Cream Cone

Lick

Quick.

~ Paul B. Janeczko

It's only two words long, but this poem (along with its title) conveys a lot.  I read it and in my mind I can see the ice cream, melting in the sunshine.  I can feel the heat of the day, the stickiness of the cone, and the cold on my tongue.  I can hear giggles and smacks of satisfaction.  I can taste the creamy, minty goodness. (In my mind, it's a chocolate chip mint cone.)  What comes to your mind when you read it? 

Do you think you could write a two-word poem that would paint an image in someone's mind?  If you do write one, please share it -- I'd love to read it! :)

Uncountable Billions

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Uncountable billions

of small grains of stone

make a short stretch of beach

one can lie on alone

or dig landlocked lakes in

or castles or forts.

Uncountable billions

of small grains of quartz.

~Karla Kuskin

The beach is a wondrous place.  I love the sound of the waves against the shore and the feel of the warm sand under my feet.  One of my favorite things to do at the beach is to look for interesting rocks. (Shells, too, but there aren't many of those at the land-locked beaches we normally visit.)  I love to just sit and sift through the sand, looking for smooth pebbles with different colors and designs.  Sometimes I forget that each piece of sand is also a rock. When I think about it, though, I am amazed, knowing that there are uncountable billions of tiny rocks stretching out beneath me.  How does nature amaze you?

Reading: Summer

Emmalie at the beach, summer 2012

Reading: Summer

Summer is with it
                       she's wild,
                       she likes
                       bare legs and cutoffs
                       and camping
                       and hikes;
                       she dives in deep water,
                       she wades in a stream,
                       she guzzles cold drinks
                       and she drowns in ice cream;
                       she runs barefoot,
                       she picnics,
                       she fishes,
                       digs bait,
                       she pitches a tent
                       and she stays up too late
                       while she counts the stars,
                       swats mosquitoes and flies,
                       hears crickets,
                       smells pine trees,
                       spies night-creature eyes;
                       she rides bareback,
                       goes sailing,
                       plays tennis,
                       climbs trees;
                       she soaks in the sunshine;
                       she gulps in a breeze;
                       she tastes the warm air
                       on the end of her tongue,

                       and she falls asleep
                       reading
                       alone
                       in the sun.

~ Myra Cohn Livingston

Happy First Day of Summer, everyone! :)

(Psst... if you haven't heard about the "Blue..." is Two! Birthday Contest yet, you can find all the details here.)

June

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June

The sun is rich
   And gladly pays
In golden hours,
   Silver days,

And long green weeks
   That never end.
School's out.  The time
   Is ours to spend.

There's Little League,
   Hopscotch, the creek,
And, after supper,
   Hide-and-seek.

That live-long light
   Is like a dream,
And freckles come
   Like flies to cream.

~ John Updike

June has always been one of my favorite months.  The fact that it's my birthday month probably has something to do with it, but it's more than that.  In his poem, Updike lists many of the things that I, too, love about June....

(Psst... if you haven't heard about the "Blue..." is Two! Birthday Contest yet, you can find all the details here.)

The last day of school...

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An excerpt:

     The last day of school is pretty loose and they probably wouldn't even bother to have one except that that's when you clean out your desk. If you didn't have to clean out your desk, Mr. Crabtree could just get on the PA system any old day in June and say, "All right, this is it, last day of school.  Go on home.  Have a great summer. See you in September."

~ from The Best School Year Ever,

written by Barbara Robinson

Today was my kids' last day of school.  They only had to go for an hour, so they are already home now and summer vacation has begun!  (Wow, I can't believe it!)  Wishing all of you a wonderful summer vacation filled with fun times and lots of good books to read! :)

(Psst... if you haven't heard about the "Blue..." is Two! Birthday Contest yet, you can find all the details here.)

Solstice

My word for the week is solstice [sohl-stis], a noun meaning "either of the two times each year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator: about June 21st, when the sun reaches its northernmost point on the celestial sphere (the summer solstice) and about Dec. 22nd, when it reaches its southernmost point (the winter solstice)."  The word can also mean "a turning point".  Here are a few sentence examples:

Soon it will be the shortest day (and longest night) 

of the year, the winter solstice.

On the winter solstice, 

some people celebrate the Yule holiday.

She felt she'd reached a solstice in her life, 

vowing to change for the better.

When the solstice comes on Friday, 

it will officially be winter.

How would you use the word solstice?  Are you looking forward to the start of winter?  I am! :)

So Long Summer

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Good-bye toes
shorts
tan
gulls
waves
wet sand.
So long knees
bathing suit
cliffs
capes
barley
oats
corn
clams
mackerel boats.
Good-bye sailing
sunsets
clover
cooking on the beach.
All over.
Bees
fields
picking berries
sea glass
dune grass
good-bye ferry
house
lane
warm rain.
So long sky.
When we come back next July
those trees will be a little taller.
So will I.

So long summer.

~Karla Kuskin

I can't believe it's already September, can you?  I know that it is still officially summer for another 20 days or so, but I never think of it as summer once August is over.  (Actually, as soon as school starts I consider it to be fall.)

I love this list poem by Karla Kuskin.  There are so many wonderful things about summer, and it's time to start bidding them goodbye, at least until next year.  Luckily, there are also several exciting things to look forward to as we say hello to autumn!

The crickets sang...

From Hush, Hush, It's Sleepytime,
illustrated by Mel Crawford, 1968

An excerpt:

     The crickets sang in the grasses.  They sang the song of summer's ending, a sad, monotonous song. "Summer is over and gone," they sang.  "Over and gone, over and gone.  Summer is dying, dying."

     The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever.  Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year -- the days when summer is changing into fall -- the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.

~ from Charlotte's Web, 

written by E.B. White

Of course, the season of summer doesn't actually end for another month still, but I always think of it as being over when school starts back up again.  I love this passage from Charlotte's Web, and how White personifies the crickets when he writes of them warning everybody, spreading rumors, and singing sad songs.  Who knew the noise an insect makes could convey so much?

Halcyon

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Every week I try to keep a look out for good words to feature here.  Sometimes they will jump out at me from a book I'm reading.  Sometimes I'll hear them in a conversation.  And sometimes I browse through Dictionary.com (or flip through an actual dictionary), to see what words catch my eye. That's what I was doing a few days ago when I spotted the word halcyon, and knew immediately that I wanted to use it this week.  Halcyon [hal-see-uhn] is an adjective meaning "peaceful, joyful, or carefree".

The first thing that popped into my head when my eyes focused on the word was a line from a song:

Because the people who love you are waiting,

and they'll wait just as long as need be.

When we look back and say those were halcyon days,

we're talking about jubilee.

~ Lyrics from "Jubilee",

written by Mary Chapin Carpenter

My second thought was that halcyon is a perfect word to describe summertime. :)

I love the halcyon months of summer, 

filled with time to do whatever my heart desires.

I sat in silence under the fuchsia sky 

watching the doe and her fawn drink from the still lake, 

a halcyon memory I will treasure forever.

How would you use the word halcyon?  What other words come to mind when you think of summertime?

The Sum of Summer

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The Sum of Summer

The sum of summer
Is one billion bees
And six trillion leaves
On three billion trees
And four fillion flies
And five sillion fleas
And uncounted numbers
Of sweet memories.

~ Douglas Florian,

Summersaults

Is this a fun poem, or what? :)  I love the rhymes, the nonsense words, and the images.  Bugs, trees, memories -- yep, sounds like summer!

A Summer Mansion

Emmalie in the BWCA, Aug. 2010

A single mat

Beneath

A pine tree

Makes a summer mansion.

~ Issa

Issa (1763-1828) was one of Japan's most famous and prolific poets, writing over 20,000 haiku in his lifetime.  I came across a book of his poetry in a box in my garage a few months ago.  It was with other books from my childhood, so I must've had it when I was growing up, but I don't remember reading it before.  

The poem above is one of my favorites from that book.  I spent so much time playing outside when I was little, much of it in or under trees.  I loved pretending that a cluster of trees (like the one in the photo above) was my house, complete with many rooms and a carpet of needles, leaves, or moss.  I can  easily see myself sitting beneath a pine tree, imagining a summer mansion around me....

A Nature Hike for the Eyes

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Our family loves nature.  We are huge fans of wildlife and trees, flowers and insects -- pretty much the entire "great outdoors".  We spend time outside enjoying nature throughout the year, but especially during the summer when the kids aren't in school and the weather is warm.  Summer is when we go camping and canoeing, take frequent nature hikes, and sit under the stars in the evenings.

Over the years, we have collected many, many books about nature.  I thought I'd share a few of them here, along with a couple that I found at the library.  First, some fictional picture books:

Have You Seen My Duckling?,

written and illustrated by Nancy Tafuri, 1984

When Mother Duck realizes that one of her ducklings is missing, she and the rest of her brood paddle around the lake, looking for him.  

The text in this board book is sparse; the story unfolds mainly through Tafuri's colorful pictures.  This book is a good way to introduce the youngest of readers to life on a lake. We've had this book since my daughter Emmalie was little, and I can still remember conversations I had with her about lily pads, turtles, ducks, and more while flipping through these pages. 

Toddlers will love looking for the missing baby duck -- he can be found hiding in the background on every page. They will also be reassured by the ending, when mother and baby are reunited.

***

Stella: Fairy of the Forest,

written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay, 2002

Stella and her little brother Sam make use of their creative imaginations as they explore the forest together.

and

Stella: Princess of the Sky,

also written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay, 2004

In this book, Stella and Sam spend the evening outside, watching the world transform from day into night as the sun sets and the moon rises.

A friend recently recommended Marie-Louise Gay's Stella and Sam books to me.  I had never heard of them before, but was happy to look for them at the library!  Gay has written nine of them so far, and I've now read two.  My six-year-old Ben and I both liked these fun books, especially the bright, whimsical illustrations and the spirited sibling conversations.

***

Gem,

written and illustrated by Holly Hobbie, 2012

This is mostly a wordless book, though the first page provides a letter from Gran to Hope and the last page is a letter from Hope back to her grandmother.  In between, readers watch the adventures of Gem the toad as she explores her world, finally ending up in Hope's back yard.

I have been a fan of Holly Hobbie's artwork ever since I was six or so.  (In fact, I had Holly Hobbie wallpaper on my bedroom walls for several years when I was growing up.)  When I spotted this volume on the "new books" shelf of our library, I knew I had to bring it home with me!  Ben and I were delighted by Hobbie's lifelike illustrations of this charming little toad.  Ben also loved making up his own words for this story, explaining Gem's perceptions of the world around her.

***

Fireflies, Fireflies, Light My Way,

written by Jonathan London

and illustrated by Linda Messier, 1996

Inspired by a Native American lullaby, this book leads readers on a nighttime journey through the wilderness.  On each page, we encounter new creatures, from fireflies to turtles to otters to... alligators?  Yikes!

My parents gave this book to Emmalie for her first birthday -- she loved it so much, we read it every night for weeks and weeks!  Part of the appeal came from the lilting text and vibrant pictures of the animals, but she especially liked the ending when we would pretend to outrun the alligators until... whew!... we were safe. :)

***

Little Beaver and The Echo,

written by Amy MacDonald

and illustrated by Sarah Fox-Davies, 1990

Little Beaver is lonely.  One day when he is crying, he hears someone else crying on the other side of the lake.  When he calls out, "I need a friend!", the other voice says, "I need a friend!", too.  He sets off in his canoe to find the owner of the voice.  Little Beaver meets several new friends along the way, but can't find the one who called back to him.  At last, he learns a lesson about echoes from a wise old beaver, and discovers that is no longer alone.

Our family loves this sweet story and its adorable pictures!

***

Canoe Days,

written by Gary Paulsen

and illustrated by Ruth Wright Paulsen, 1999

The narrator of this story uses poetic images to describe a perfect day out on the canoe.

I have a feeling that any canoe enthusiast would appreciate and enjoy this book -- I know our whole family does!  (All three of my kids loved it even before they'd ever set foot in a canoe.)  The illustrations are gorgeous, and reading through the book brings a sense of peace, just like being out on a still lake in a canoe.

***

Lost in the Woods,

written and photographed by Carl R. Sams II

and Jean Stoick, 2004

A tiny fawn is all alone in the woods.  The other woodland creatures wonder: is he lost?  Or, like the fawn himself says, is he simply waiting for his mother to return?

With its beautiful photographs and gentle humor, this is an engaging story, especially for those who love animals.

***

The Goodnight Circle,

written by Carolyn Lesser

and illustrated by Lorinda Bryan Cauley, 1984

As the sun goes down, some woodland creatures settle in for the night while others are just waking up.

Lesser's lyrical text combines with Cauley's rich illustrations to create this glimpse of nighttime in the forest.  Our family likes to read this one at bedtime.  I bought this copy at a library book sale many years ago, and was thrilled to find out when I got home that it had been autographed by the author!

***

There are also many wonderful non-fiction books about nature.  Here are a few that our family enjoys:

A Leaf Can Be...,

written by Laura Purdie Salas

and illustrated by Violeta Dabija, 2012

Clever poetry from Salas, paired with Dabija's luminous illustrations, provides information about leaves and all that they can be.

I found this book at the library and, drawn to it's cover, brought it home with me.  I'm so glad I did!  Ben and I loved poring over the pages, reading the rhymes, and talking about leaves.

***

Black Bear Cub,

written by Alan Lind

and illustrated by Katie Lee, 1994

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a bear?  This book gives readers a peek into a black bear cub's life, offering interesting facts about these amazing animals.

This is one from my son Nick's huge collection of animal books.  He has long since graduated to reading adult nonfiction, but this is a great book for young animal lovers.

***

Caves and Caverns,

written and illustrated by Gail Gibbons, 1993

Are you and your family interested in exploring caves?  In this informative and easy-to-understand book, Gibbons explains how caves and caverns are formed, shares the names of various rock formations, tells about animals and plants that live underground, and much more.

Our family found this book quite useful when we went on vacation to Mammoth Caves several years ago!

***

Forest Explorer: A Life-Size Field Guide,

written and photographed by Nic Bishop, 2004

With chapters like "The Leafy Understory", "After Dark", and "Winter Survivors", Bishop provides large 2-page photos of various forest habitats accompanied by field notes about the plants, animals, and insects found there.  At the end of the book is a section called "Be a Forest Explorer", which offers hints for exploring and projects to try.

***

Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal Constellations,

written by Jacqueline Mitton

and illustrated by Christina Balit, 1998

In this book, Mitton combines non-fiction and fiction, supplying star maps and information about stars along with stories about various animal constellations found in the sky.

My sister gave this book to Emmalie when she was only three or so, and Emm's been interested in the stars ever since!  (Soon after reading this for the first time, we bought glow-in-the-dark stars to put on Emm's ceiling -- she loved having her own constellations shining above her bed every night.)

This is a wonderful book to display on a shelf or coffee table -- Balit's illustrations are stunning.

***

Have you read any of the books shown above?  If so, what did you think?  What are your favorite nature books?  My family and I would love to hear about them!

Cicadas buzzed...

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An excerpt:

     Mo shifted in her chair, unsticking her thighs.  It was fiery hot in the little kitchen, hotter even than outside, where the Cleveland cicadas buzzed like rattlesnakes that had learned to climb trees.

~ from What Happened on Fox Street,

written by Tricia Springstubb

I had never thought about it before reading this, but Springstubb is right -- cicadas do sound like rattlesnakes up in the trees!  What a great image!

Summer Reading at the Beach

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Summer Reading at the Beach

Some lay novels on their navels,
Some hold comics in their fists,
Some build castles with book shovels
From The Times Best-seller Lists.

Some folks read beside the ocean,
Some folks read along the coast,
Some folks rub on suntan lotion,
Some folks who forgot are TOAST!

~ J. Patrick Lewis

I love reading on the beach!  (And on my bed and on the couch and in the car and pretty much anywhere... but there's just something about lying on a towel on the sand, enjoying the warm sunshine and the sound of the waves and my book, all at the same time.)  What a wonderful way to relax....

The Sound of Night

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The Sound of Night

And now the dark comes on, all full of chitter noise.
Birds huggermugger crowd the trees,
the air thick with their vesper cries,
and bats, snub seven-pointed kites,
skitter across the lake, swing out,
squeak, chirp, dip, and skim on skates
of air, and the fat frogs wake and prink
wide-lipped, noisy as ducks, drunk

on the bloozy black, gloating chink-chunk.

And now on the narrow beach we defend ourselves from

   dark.

The cooking done, we build our firework

bright and hot and less for outlook

than for magic, and lie in our blankets

while night nickers around us.  Crickets

chorus hallelujahs; paws, quiet

and quick as raindrops, play on the stones

expertly soft, run past and are gone;

fish pulse in the lake; the frogs hoarsen.

Now every voice of the hour -- the known,

   the supposed, the strange,

the mindless, the witted, the never seen --

sing, thrum, impinge, and rearrange

endlessly; and debarred from sleep we wait

for the birds, importantly silent,

for the crease of first eye-licking light,

for the sun, lost long ago and sweet.

By the lake, locked black away and tight,

we lie, day creatures, overhearing night.

~Maxine Kumin

Everything about this poem reminds me of camping in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. One of my favorite things about camping there is watching the sun set and then drifting off to sleep in our tent, listening to all the sounds of the forest around me. I love the images that Kumin creates with all of her adjectives and verbs, and I can picture it all in my head -- the bats skittering across the sky, the fat frogs gloating, the crickets chorusing, the eye-licking light.  What sounds do you hear at night?

Books Gone Buggy

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Have you ever gone buggy?  Do you find bugs, insects, and other creepy-crawlies interesting, amazing... and maybe even cute?  If so, this post is for you!  (And if you're one of those people who can't stand anything with more than four legs, I suggest that you stop reading now, and come back tomorrow for a new post, LOL!)  

While I admit there are some many-legged creatures that give me the willies, there are many more that I enjoy watching and learning about.  I've long been a fan of butterflies and fireflies and dragonflies and praying mantises, among other things.  I love listening to the cicadas in summertime.  For three of my summers in college, I even worked for the Iowa State entomology department.  (Entomology is the study of insects.)  Among other duties, I "babysat" beetles similar to ladybugs, raising them from tiny eggs, through the larval stage and pupa stage, until they were full-grown adults, laying more eggs.

When my daughter Emmalie was younger, she was fascinated by bugs!  She collected ladybug toys and books about insects, had a favorite hat with pictures of various bugs on it, and even had a border of ladybugs, dragonflies, and butterflies painted all around her bedroom walls.  When her brothers came along, they quickly became interested in insects as well... and now Nick and Ben are even more buggy for bugs than their big sister!

We've read bunches of bug books, fiction and non-fiction, this summer.  I thought I'd share some of our favorites, starting with fictional picture books:

Some of our family's favorite bug books were written and illustrated by Eric Carle, including...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969)

The Grouchy Ladybug (1977)

The Very Quiet Cricket (1990)

and The Very Lonely Firefly (1995)

I wrote about these and other Carle creations in another post, which you can see here.

***

Beetle Bop,

written and illustrated by Denise Fleming, 2007

A joy to look at and read aloud, this book is a colorful, rhyming celebration of beetles!

***

Bugtown Boogie,

written by Warren Hansen

and illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, 2008

On his way home one evening, a young boy discovers a Bugtown dance floor at the base of a tree, each insect boogieing down in its own special way.  With amusing illustrations and a catchy story in rhyme, this fun book will make you want to get up and do your own little dance!

***

Tiny Little Fly,

written by Michael Rosen

and illustrated by Kevin Waldron, 2010

This is a playful story about a fly who lands on several large animals, teasing them.  They try to catch him, but he just keeps flying away.  I love the rhyming text of this book, its humor, and Waldron's spirited illustrations!

***

Old Black Fly,

written by Jim Aylesworth

and illustrated by Stephen Gammell, 1992

This pesky fly is busy driving a family crazy all day long, getting into mischief from A to Z.  The wild, spattery paintings and the lively rhyming text combine to make this a very entertaining book.  (Spoiler alert: Old Black Fly gets swatted at the very end.  I just wanted to mention that in case you -- or a young bug-lover in your house -- would be upset by that, the way my Nick would be!)

***

Butterfly Boy,

written by Virginia Kroll

and illustrated by Gerardo Suzan, 1997

Emilio's grandfather can no longer speak, but when Emilio wheels him outside to watch the butterflies, his eyes light up. Emilio and Abuelo enjoy the butterflies all summer long, then bid them goodbye in the fall.  All winter Emilio reads books about them to his grandfather, and the two wait for the butterflies to return.  When Emilio learns that the insects are attracted to the color white, he realizes that's why they always gathered on the family's white garage.  But one day in spring, he finds that his father has repainted the garage blue. How will they welcome back their favorite creatures?  This is a heart-warming story, filled with brilliantly-colored illustrations.

***

These Bees Count!,

written by Alison Formento

and illustrated by Sarah Snow, 2012

Mr. Tate's class takes a field trip to Busy Bee Farm, where they learn all about honeybees and why they matter.  This is a counting book combined with a story, with quite a bit of information about bees for young children in it, as well.

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I found the following middle grade buggy novel on our bookshelf at home and decided to check it out:

Incognito Mosquito: Private Insective,

written by E.A. Hass

and illustrated by Don Madden, 1982

This book is filled with silliness, puns to make you groan, buggy characters, and mysteries to solve.  When I looked it up online, I discovered that Hass wrote several other books about this intrepid detective, including Incognito Mosquito Flies Again! (1985), Incognito Mosquito Takes to the Air (1987), and Incognito Mosquito Makes History (1987).

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For those who want to learn about bugs and insects, here are some nonfiction books that I recommend:

The Bug Book,

written by Kathy Kranking

and illustrated by Kristin Kest, 1998

I'm pretty sure that this is the book that started Emmalie's obsession with bugs!  I remember her asking me to read it over and over (and over) again.  This is a great book for the youngest of bug enthusiasts, providing detailed drawings and some basic -- but interesting -- facts about a few common bugs, like grasshoppers, fleas, and flies.

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Garden Friends,

written by DK Publishing,

with photographs by many, 2003

This book for beginning readers features close-up photographs and simple text about the various insects and other critters found in a garden. 

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Not a Buzz to Be Found,

written by Linda Glaser

and illustrated by Jaime Zollars, 2012

I found this delightful book at the library earlier this month, and just loved it!  Have you ever wondered where insects go or what they do in the winter?  This is the first book I've seen that focuses on that subject.  Glaser tells about the winter habits of twelve different bugs, using simple, rhyming text.  (A section at the end of the book provides more information about the various insects.)  I also loved the rich, charming illustrations by Zollars.

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Caterpillars, Bugs, and Butterflies,

written by Mel Boring

and illustrated by Linda Garrow, 1996

Another of Emmalie's favorite books when she was younger, this one provides identification information for many caterpillars, butterflies, moths, and other bugs common to North America.  It also includes some educational activities and a few "scrapbook" pages at the back for kids to draw their own pictures of bugs they've found.

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The Ultimate Bug Book,

written by Luise Woelflein

and illustrated by Wendy Smith-Griswold, 1993

Emmalie's grandparents gave her this entertaining, hands-on book when she was four or five years old.  The book only has 5 pages, but each one is chock-full of insect facts and some very cool pop-up models of various bugs.  There are flaps to open, paper wheels to turn -- even a scratch-and-sniff section for anyone brave enough to want a whiff of a stinkbug!

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The Beetle Book,

written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins, 2012

Did you know that one out of every four living things on earth is a beetle?  Jenkins presents beautiful, intricate illustrations of these creatures -- along with a wealth of information about beetles' life cycles, communication, defenses, and other topics.

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The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs,

written and photographed by 

Judy Burris and Wayne Richards,

also photographed by Christina Richards, 2011

Introducing bugs common across the United States, this brother-sister team shares useful information and colorful, close-up photographs of each of the bugs' various life stages. They also give advice on raising moths and protecting bug habitats.

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Biggest Bugs (life-size!),

written and photographed by George Beccaloni,

also with photos by others, 2010

This fun book showcases 35 of the biggest, longest, and heaviest bugs from around the world, with life-size pictures. (The photo of the world's longest insect, the Chan's megastick, even requires a fold-out page!)  Beccaloni includes maps to show where each of the bugs lives, and provides quite a bit of scientific information about the creatures, as well.

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The Natural World of Bugs & Insects,

written and photographed by 

Ken and Rod Preston-Mafham,

also photographed by many others, 2000

This is a book for true insect enthusiasts!  While it was not written specifically for kids, my in-laws gave it to Emmalie when she was six, and she used to spend hours and hours poring through the photographs of this visual encyclopedia and reading the information given.  It used to be her very favorite book.  (You can tell from the top picture that it's been well-loved!)  It contains a 160-page introduction, explaining the differences between bugs and insects, mating, defense, life cycles, etc., and then goes on to tell about the bugs and insects in different areas around the world.  The large, vibrant photos give readers the chance to study these creatures up close.

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Have you read any of the books above?  If so, what did you think?  Do you have any other favorite books about bugs? Our family is always happy to hear about new ones!