Centipedes

Children's Literature

On a quiet summer day you are observing the wildlife at your local creek. Turning over a rock, you see a long slender creature with dozens of legs scurry away. Was that a centipede or millipede? While the topic is the centipede, the two animals have similarities and differences that help define each. Centipedes are fast moving predators who use poison to kill. Their body consists of two parts, a head and a skinny, flat, segmented body. Each segment has two legs with poison claws—one on each side. Millipede's have longer, rounder bodies, with each segment having four poisonless legs. Being slow moving, the millipede has two major defenses against predators. They curl into a ball so only the hard exoskeleton is exposed, and if that isn't enough, the sides of their bodies emit a foul liquid that makes them completely unappetizing. Millipedes are scavengers, not predators. Read on to learn some other clever abilities these animals can use to evade the predator's grasp. With color photographs, a glossary, index, and Web sites, the information given here would fit in nicely with an elementary school science curriculum. Part of the "Naturebooks" series. 2003, The Child's World,
— Barbara Kennedy

School Library Journal

Gr 1-4-These glossy introductions give children a firm grasp of the basics. Each one describes its subject's major physical and behavioral characteristics, natural habitats, life cycle, diets, enemies, defense mechanisms, and potential danger to humans. In addition, Merrick discusses the chief differences between centipedes and their close relatives, millipedes; Murray mentions distinctive characteristics of about a dozen particular kinds of beetles. In each title, most pages of text alternate with large, sharp, color close-up photographs of the creatures discussed. Invertebrates depicted are identified by common names in captions. All three books have large, easy-to-read print. The texts are succinctly written and well organized but the highlight of each volume is the photography. Printed on glossy paper, these well-composed illustrations imbue the exoskeletons of most of the invertebrates featured with a soft luster; even the cockroaches have a kind of glamour in the way they are depicted. With their crisp texts and eye-catching color photography, these books will appeal to both browsers and students writing reports.-Karey Wehner, formerly at San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.