Reviewed by Adah Stock
8th Grade Science Teacher
The Wonders Inside series includes 90-page, oversized books with dramatic, beautiful, colorful, double-paged, annotated images. The topics are arranged randomly and identified by a color code on the page number and referenced in the table of contents. Each volume includes a small glossary and an index. Within the pages of each book there are five plastic layers that add information about different parts of a human or an insect. The plastic page is numbered consecutively after the printed page. One side of the layer adds to the illustration on the right side of the printed page. When readers turn the plastic layer, the other side is a different numbered page that adds to the image on the printed page for left side of the book. Many pages include a small rectangular box with "Inside Info" providing interesting facts related to image.
Bugs and Spiders has great illustrations of wings, bugs, spiders, and beetles. The layers in this volume cover metamorphosis, beehives, wasps, locusts, and writing spiders. Although the title uses the word bugs on the cover, readers learn on page one what makes an organism an insect. The plastic overlays add a new dimension for these organisms. There is an overlay about wasps, for instance, that changes the view of a flower from white to blue to show how a wasp actually sees the flower in a different way than humans see it in nature.
What makes this book about bugs and spiders different is "less is more." It doesn’t overwhelm readers with a clutter of information about the topic displayed. At the beginning of each new section, there is a short paragraph that introduces the topic in larger-than-average print. The only other print is about the annotations, and those are brief as well. This is a great book to introduce children to the insects in their world, along with some unusual insects and spiders. The size of the illustrations and brightly colored images will lure kids to look through the book. Also, the random arrangement of the six content topics is a plus for kids who tend to skim through illustrated books. Children who are not readers won’t be intimidated by the text. Budding scientists who become interested in a specific organism will be encouraged to seek other sources for more information. This is an ideal source for a center in a classroom or library, to introduce or reinforce hands-on activities related to insects.
Review posted on 11/4/2009
|