The Beetle Book

by Steve Jenkins, Steve Jenkins (Illustrator)

Overview

Beetles squeak and beetles glow. Beetles stink, beetles sprint, beetles walk on water. With legs, antennae, horns, beautiful shells, knobs, and other oddities—what’s not to like about beetles? The beetle world is vast: one out of every four living things on earth is a beetle. There are over 350,000 different species named so far and scientists suspect there may be as many as a million. From the goliath beetle that weighs one fourth of a pound to the nine inch long titan beetle, award-winning author-illustrator Steve Jenkins presents a fascinating array of these intriguing insects and the many amazing adaptations they have made to survive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547680873
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	02/25/2014
Sold by:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Lexile:	AD980L (what's this?)
File size:	36 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Steve Jenkins has written and illustrated many nonfiction picture books for young readers, including the Caldecott Honor-winning What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? His books have been called stunning, eye-popping, inventive, gorgeous, masterful, extraordinary, playful, irresistible, compelling, engaging, accessible, glorious, and informative. He lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and frequent collaborator, Robin Page. Visit Steve at stevejenkinsbooks.com.     

Editorial Reviews

"Jenkins' splendid array of beetles will surely produce at least one budding coleopterist...distinguished both as natural history and work of art"—Kirkus, starred review

"Jenkins brings his signature style to the world of beetles...As always, the design of the book is exemplary."—Horn Book

"A richly varied and visually riveting introduction to beetles, both familiar and strange."—Booklist, starred review

"Jenkins's enthusiasm for his subject shines through in this rich and varied compendium."—School Library Journal, starred review

"Jenkins offers a wealth of information about beetles and presents it impeccably."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The combination of sophisticated look and highly visual approach makes this accessible to a wide audience, and this is one that'll certainly be picked up immediately if left strategically on a library table."—Bulletin

From the Publisher

One of every four plants and animals on earth is a beetle. Jenkins depicts here in detail countless numbers of them. He presents a dozen named variations on a double-page spread just to show "that they all share the same basic design." He then deconstructs one to explain their different parts. We learn about the adaptations of various beetles, their special senses, and observe the way some fight. We can see on another double page the growth of some beetles from egg to adult. Other pages depict types of beetles: plant eaters, hunters and scavengers, plus those that communicate, have disguises, and employ different methods of moving. The range of sizes demonstrated is truly amazing. To create the extremely realistic images, Jenkins uses his usual torn and cut paper collages, which he then organizes on the stark white pages, accompanied by brief blocks of informative text. His selection from the thousands of existing beetles worldwide makes for fascinating study and emotional reactions. The jacket offers a remarkable display of over a score of these esthetically inventive creatures on the back. A list of all the beetles included, page by page, with their size, Latin name, and where they are found, ends the book. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Gr 4–7—"Line up every kind of plant and animal on Earth..." says Jenkins at the start of his joyous celebration of beetle-mania, "…and one of every four will be a beetle." From the minute clown beetle to the gigantic titan beetle (its jaws are strong enough to snap a pencil in half), the artist uses his trademark torn- and cut-paper creations to depict a wide sampling to introduce neophyte beetle lovers to the sumptuous world that awaits them. With more than 350,000 species known to science (and others being discovered as you read this review), Jenkins had his work cut out for him. Throughout the colorful, fact-filled pages runs a series of life-size silhouettes to give readers a proper perspective for comparisons. In informative snippets of hand-lettered text, he offers life-style data and basic beetle physiology, and quirky details such as the fact that museums use hide beetles to clean animal specimen bones, and that bombardier beetles squirt a blinding spray into the faces of their enemies. Suffice to say that Jenkins's enthusiasm for his subject shines through in this rich and varied compendium.—Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

Jenkins' splendid array of beetles will surely produce at least one budding coleopterist. The colors and patterns of this ubiquitous insect (one out of four creatures on the planet is a beetle, Jenkins tells readers) are fascinating, as are the details about the various adaptations that beetles have made over millennia in response to their environment, diet, and predators. "Perhaps the innovation that has been most helpful to the beetle is its pair of rigid outer wings." Beautiful book design and a small but clear freehand-style type contribute to readers' appreciation of the elegant structure and variety of these creatures. Deep, bright hues in the torn-and–cut-paper–collage illustrations set each beetle with its own singular pattern and colors against generous white space. Actual-size silhouettes allow the detailed, larger illustrations to be matched with a realistic appraisal of each beetle's dimensions. A list of the several dozen featured beetles along with their Latin names and their principal geographic locations appears on a two-page opening at the back. Only a couple of quibbles: The author's claim that without the dung beetle "the world's grasslands would soon be buried in animal droppings" begs for a little further explanation; and the absence of a bibliography seems like an oversight. Otherwise, distinguished both as natural history and work of art. (Nonfiction. 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews