Beetles & Ladybugs, Fiction - Animals - Insects, Poetry - Rhymes, Nursery Rhymes & Fingerplays, Fiction - General & Miscellaneous

Beetle Bop

Name: Beetle Bop
Author: Denise Fleming
ISBN: 9780152059361

by Denise Fleming

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Overview

They crawl up walls, they hide in cracks, they flip, they fly, and sometimes . . . crrrash. Beetles come in all shapes and sizes, and they are everywhere in this thoroughly buggy, beautifully designed book.

There are striped beetles, spotted beetles, all-over-dotted beetles—and don't forget the noisily gnawing beetles! Whether you love bugs or whether the sight of them makes you itch, you'll adore this infested offering from the beloved Denise Fleming.

Synopsis

Crawling with beautiful beetles, this is a spectacular celebration of bugs by a Caldecott Honor winner

Publishers Weekly

Beetles come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors, and Fleming (In the Small, Small Pond) gives an exuberant shout-out to a slew of them in this eye-catching catalogue of backyard nature. Befitting the book's title, Fleming's verse dances across the pages-"Brown beetles,/green beetles,/not-often-seen beetles"-accented by changing font, color, and even direction in the layout of text. But young readers will especially want to pore over her bursting-with-color, dyed-paper-pulp compositions. As they do, they will glean information about beetle behavior (crashing into porch lightbulbs, gnawing on leaves or bark) and the beetle's place in the larger food chain (being lapped up by a salamander's tongue or snatched in a bird's beak). Part boisterous read-aloud, part field guide for entomology enthusiasts, this arresting volume has something for everybuggy. Ages 3-7. (Aug.)

About the Author, Denise Fleming

DENISE FLEMING is the creator of the acclaimed In the Small, Small Pond, a Caldecott Honor Book and an ALA Notable Children's Book. She lives in Ohio.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

* “Beetles come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, and Fleming gives an exuberant shout-out to a slew of them in this eye-catching catalogue of backyard nature. . . . Part boisterous read-aloud, part field guide for entomology enthusiasts, this arresting volume has something for everybuggy.” (starred review)

Kirkus Reviews

A lively rhyme tracks a bevy of beetles as they lay eggs on a pumpkin, evade predators, munch on leaves, splash in water and bang into light bulbs. Fleming's trademark pressed-paper collages take advantage of the scale of this close-up look at the bugs, offering a graphic glimpse at a toad's luridly open mouth and an endearing look at a surprised-looking green beetle peeking out from behind a tree. The edges between shapes are often tinged with bright blue or pink, lending an incandescence to the whole that is breathtaking. The text is so heavily rhythmic that it practically reads itself aloud, the typeface dancing across the page to help it along. So engaging is this offering, however, that it comes as a disappointment not to have any identification afforded these lovingly rendered bugs, the bare beetle facts at the end only begging a more thorough exploration. So common is such an appendix these days that its absence in this work is all the more remarkable. Still, paired with a good field guide, Fleming's latest will delight bug-loving preschoolers over and over again. (Picture book. 2-5)