Kate Narita’s book, 100 Bugs, is a virtual smorgasbord of fun for kids. Written for children ages 5-7, the book uses 10 different bugs to get to 10 by combinations (9+1, 8+2 etc) and then combinations of 10 to get to 100. In addition to bugs, young readers are introduced to 10 different flowers as they go on their counting adventure enhanced with colorful, whimsical illustrations.
The frame for story involves two sibling “explorers” who get up at sunrise to go outside and search for bugs. They visit a barn, horse coral, meadow, chicken yard, and pond, finding new bugs amid flowers as they go: walkingsticks on roses, dragonflies on bugbane, leafhoppers on yarrow, ladybugs on rafters, bumblebees on sneezeweed, swallowtails on snakeroot, damselflies on coralbells, spittlebugs on woodland sage, kaytids on phlox, and lightning bugs flying above sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. Opportunities to search for the bugs abound and the gentle rhyming of the text moves the story along at an easy, enjoyable pace. End materials provide more detail on the bugs and plants so that we learn that leafhoppers run sideways, male fireflies attract females by giving off a short green dot of light, and deers avoid common sneezeweed because of its toxic and bitter leaves. This book is a wonderful reading adventure from start to finish.
To buy 100 Bugs from Amazon.com, click here.
Karen Meyers