This is Your Life Cycle

by Heather Lynn Miller, Michael Chesworth (Illustrator)

Overview

In this hilarious and inventive picture book, your host, Bob Beetle, takes special guest Dahlia Dragonfly down memory lane, highlighting the most influential creatures and experiences during her time as a nymph. You’ll meet three mystery guests, who’ll share their personal stories about Dahlia, and along the way you’ll find out about the different stages of a dragonfly’s life, the various predators they face, what they eat, and other amazing facts. And who knows what else might happen because, as always, we’ll be filming live in front of our all-insect studio audience!
Filled with fun and humor, this book is as entertaining as it is informative. So please join us for an evening of laughter, thrills, and the thorax-warming memories that make every life cycle its own fascinating story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547533940
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	07/21/2008
Sold by:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	26 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Michael Chesworth has illustrated many books for children. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Heather Lynn Miller has written a number of books for children and is the co-author of Look Behind! Tales of Animal Ends (Greenwillow). She and her family live in northeastern Indiana.

Editorial Reviews

In this cleverly humorous simulated TV show, "appropriate for insects of all stages," the cameras move to the swamps where the "special guest," Dahlia the nymph, is about to emerge from the water as the dragonfly star of every insect's favorite show, This Is Your Life Cycle. Parodying the pattern of the old TV show the MC, Bob Beetle, introduces characters from Dahlia's life to date. Each one details events from her mother's report of laying the egg through her hatching as a nymph, the turtle's tale of her escape from his appetite, to her brother's memories of their growth. Before the eyes of the "audience," Dahlia splits from her exoskeleton to emerge with her wings. Time is then out for a commercial, of all things. The show is abruptly over, as Dahlia hungrily eyes the insects in that audience. Double-page sketchy ink-and-watercolor scenes are frenetically composed of insects, ponds, leaves, speech balloons, captions, etc. A fly TV cameraman is typical of the visual humor. Although clearly designed for laughs, the story of Dahlia's life is also meant to inform. A final page of questions and answers adds information. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Gr 1-4

Presented as a spoof of the old This Is Your Life TV show, this book features Dahlia the dragonfly with mystery guests, including her mom, who tell about the various stages in the insect's life. Although the text (much of it in thought balloons) and the lively watercolor and ink cartoons are anthropomorphized and quite humorous, the information is well conveyed. The egg-laying process is discussed, but there is no explanation of mating per se. A question-and-answer page contributes additional material. This book is similar in tone to Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm (2003) and her other Diary ... books (HarperCollins). Life Cycle , however, gives more information about the featured animal. Children will appreciate the humor, breezy text, and lively illustrations in Miller's book.-Lynda Ritterman, formerly at Atco Elementary School, NJ

School Library Journal

A dragonfly nymph emerges from the water and into the spotlight in this hilarious pondside version of the classic TV show. With a buggy audience gasping and cheering in the background, suave six-legged host Bob Beetle chronicles wide-eyed Dahlia's nautical life from hatchling to tadpole-munching predator, then trots out three Mystery Guests: her Mom ("I was so exhausted when I finished [laying over 800 eggs], I just sat down and died"), glowering Box Turtle, the first of many deadly threats she escaped, and last but not least, her brother Flash. "Flash! I'm so excited I popped my exoskeleton!" Dahlia exclaims, molting on screen and then shyly retreating behind a leaf to let her new wings dry out. Following the commercial (for BIRD-B-GONE!), she makes a dramatic re-entry as an adult-with an unmistakably hungry look that prompts a hasty "It's time for us to buzz off!" The insect audience may decamp, but the human one is sure to stay glued to Chesworth's comical cartoon pictures and Miller's riotous take on nature in action. (concluding Q&A) (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews

"The guest on today's edition of the titular insect interview show is Dahlia the Dragonfly, and as host Bob Beetle escorts her down memory lane, nymph Dahlia relives key moments in her development. She recognizes the offstage voice of her mother and at their happy reunion she learns how Mom laid more than 800 eggs in porous grass blades ("I was so exhausted when I finished, I just sat down and died"). Next up is a more ominous guest, a box turtle that tried to eat her shortly after she broke free of her egg case ("Before I had a chance to gobble you up, you disappeared under a pile of dead leaves"). Just as Dahlia boasts about her ability to jet through the water via a rear-end pump, her "twin" brother shows up bragging about how he beat her to a swarm of mosquito larvae. Dahlia's now so excited, she breaks right out of her exoskeleton, transforms into an adult dragonfly, and like all good predators and many ill-mannered talk-show guests, turns against the insect audience. A wealth of information on insect life stages is embedded in this clever romp, and the cartoon-styled characters, dialogue-bubble conversations, and deadpan Bob Beetle patter are a hoot. A handful of Q&A entries round out the title, offering more nuanced commentary on the giddy presentation. Although clearly designed for solo reading, this fairly screams to be performed, and the smart money says lots of classroom teachers will be mocking up wing sets in preparation for a goofy reenactment."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Presented as a spoof of the old This Is Your Life TV show, this book features Dahlia the dragonfly with mystery guests, including her mom, who tell about the various stages in the insect's life. Although the text (much of it in thought balloons) and the lively watercolor and ink cartoons are anthropomorphized and quite humorous, the information is well conveyed. The egg-laying process is discussed, but there is no explanation of mating per se. A question-and-answer page contributes additional material. This book is similar in tone to Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm (2003) and her other Diary . . . books (HarperCollins). Life Cycle, however, gives more information and lively illustrations in Miller's book."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher