For Younger
Children (preschool-grade
2)
Army
Ant Parade by April Pulley Sayre.
How about camping in the rain forest…with a swarm of army
ants?!? (j595.796 Sayre)
Bright Beetle by Rick Chrustowski.
What's it like to be a ladybug? Danger, drama, and intrigue follow
our beloved beetle through the days of her life. (j595.769
Chrustowski)
Bug Safari
by Bob Barner.
Tells how the author, as a young boy, followed a trail of ants
and came across various other insects and small creatures, then
briefly provides facts about each creature encountered. (j Barner)
Butterflies in the Garden by Carol Lerner.
This winning combination of exquisite illustrations and simple
science features flowers and plants that attract butterflies.
(j595.789 Lerner)
Centipede's 100 Shoes by Tony Ross.
A centipede buys shoes to protect his feet but finds that they
are a lot of trouble to put on and take off. (j Ross)
Crickwing
by Janell Cannon.
A lonely cockroach named Crickwing has a creative idea that saves
the day for the leaf-cutter ants when their fierce forest enemies
attack them.(j Cannon)
Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin.
A young worm discovers, day by day, that there are some very good
and some not so good things about being a worm in this great big
world. (j Reading Rainbow Cronin)
The Icky Bug Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Twenty-six bugs in one book! Colorful, fun, and loaded with information.
(j595.7 Pallotta)
In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming.
A toddler's-eye view of creatures found in the grass from lunchtime
till nightfall, such as bees, ants, and moles. (j Fleming)
The
Lady and the Spider by Faith McNulty.
A spider makes its home in a head of lettuce. What will happen
to it when the lady gardener discovers it? (j Reading Rainbow
McNulty)
The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci.
A treasure-trove of honeybee facts. (j595.799 Micucci)
If you like this one, be sure to check out The
Life and Times of the Ant (j595.796 Micucci).
Look Closer: An Introduction to Bug-Watching by Gay W. Holland.
Grab a magnifying glass and start to appreciate the diversity
of bugs all around you. (j595.7 Holland)
Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan Edwards.
A smug slug that will not listen to the animals around it comes
to an unexpected end. (j Edwards)
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg.
When two bad ants run away from their colony, they get in a little
trouble. (j Van Allsburg)
See also: Your Big Backyard magazine, located near the picture book bins at the Main Library.
For Beginning
Readers (grades
1-3)
Breakout
at the Bug Lab by Ruth Horowitz.
When a giant cockroach named Max escapes from their mother's bug
laboratory, Leo and his brother receive help from a mysterious
stranger who advises them to think like a bug in order to recapture
the runaway roach. (E Horowitz)
Brilliant Bees by Linda Glaser.
A little girl observes honeybees from a safe distance and sees
how the bees collect nectar, communicate, pollinate flowers, build
and protect their hive, make honey, feed the queen bee, and raise
their young.(j595.799 Glaser)
Bugs!
by Pat McKissack.
Simple text and illustrations of a variety of insects introduce
the numbers one through five. (E McKissack)
Bugs Are Insects by Anne F. Rockwell.
Is a ladybug really a bug? Is a honeybee an insect? How about
a spider? How do you know? Discover a hidden world of tiny creatures
building their homes, stalking their prey, and hiding from their
enemies right in your own backyard. (j595.7 Rockwell)
Buzz!: A Book about Insects by Melvin Berger.
Packed with facts, details, and excellent photographs covering
a wide variety of insects. (j595.7 Berger)
Grasshopper on the Road by Arnold Lobel.
As Grasshopper sets out to follow a road, he meets some unusual
characters. (E Lobel)
Inside an Ant Colony by
Allan Fowler.
Bustling and well-organized…hmmm, does that describe this
book or an ant colony? Read it and find out. (j595.796 Fowler)
Inspector Hopper by Doug Cushman.
Inspector Hopper and his perpetually hungry assistant McBugg solve
three mysteries for their insect friends. (E Cushman)
The Magic School Bus Explores the World
of Bugs by Nancy White.
Ms. Frizzle's class can't find any insects for a science fair
project, but she has the perfect solution! All aboard the Magic
School Bug! (j595.7 White) (at Main Library, ask at the
Youth Services Desk)
Oddhopper Opera: A Bug's Garden of Verses by Kurt Cyrus.
A down-and-dirty bugs'-eye view of a garden that's crawling with
critters. (j811.54 Cyrus)
Ralph Masiello's Bug Drawing Book by
Ralph Masiello.
Using carefully sequenced steps and simple shapes, Masiello shows
readers how to draw all kinds of creepy creatures, from a beetle
to a stink bug. (j743.6 Masiello)
Ricky Ricotta's Giant Robot vs. the Mutant
Mosquitoes from Mercury
by Dav Pilkey.
A mouse named Ricky Ricotta and his giant flying robot attempt
to save the world from an invasion of massive mutant mosquitoes
from Mercury. (Juv Fic Pilkey)
A Tale for Saint Urho's Tay by Aini Rajanen.
Did you know there are no grasshoppers in Finland? This legend
suggests why. (j394.26 Rajanen)
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears:
A West African Tale by
Verna Aardema.
A retelling of a traditional West African tale that reveals how
the mosquito developed its annoying habit. (j Reading Rainbow
Aardema)
Wolfie
by Janet Chenery.
Two boys find a wolf spider and through observing it and consulting
a woman at the nature center they learn its habits. (j595.4 Chenery)
For Older
Readers (grades
3 and up)
Beetles,
Lightly Toasted by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.
For a school project, Andy makes recipes with some unusual food
sources and tests them on unaware friends and family. (Juv Fic Naylor)
Bug Boy
by Carol Sonenklar.
When someone anonymously gives bug lover Charlie a device called
the Amazing Bug-A-View, he uses it to transform himself into a
spider, a grasshopper, and a fly. Sequel: Bug Girl. (Juv Fic Sonenklar)
Bug Muldoon: The Garden of Fear by Paul Shipton.
Something strange is going on in the garden and Bug Muldoon, beetle
private investigator, tries to figure out how the ants and the
wasps are involved. (Juv Fic M Shipton)
Bug off! A Swarm of Insect Words by Catherine Hepworth.
Bugs-they're EVERYWHERE you look! In frANTic, BEEthoven, TICK-tac-toe,
stalagMITES-you can't get away from them! (j Hepworth)
Bugs Before Time: Prehistoric Insects
and Their Relatives by
Cathy Camper.
Before dinosaurs ruled the earth, bugs did. Some learned to adapt
and survive to become the insects and sea beasts of today. (j565.7
Camper)
Children of Summer: Henri Fabre's Insects by Margaret J. Anderson.
Ten-year-old Paul describes how he and his sisters learned about
insects from the observations and writings of their father, the
nineteenth-century French entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre. (Juv
Fic Anderson)
Cockroaches up Close by Robin Birch.
La cuaracha, la cucaracha - You can't know too much about cockroaches.
(j595.722 Birch)
The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures
of a Small Snail (And an Even Smaller Ant) by Avi.
Avon the snail and Edward, a take-charge ant, set off together
on a journey to an undetermined destination in search of unspecified
adventures. (Juv Fic Avi)
An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a
Monarch Butterfly by Laurence
Pringle.
This exceptional book follows a monarch butterfly's amazing migration
from Massachusetts to Mexico. (j595.789 Pringle)
The Fire Bug Connection: An Ecological
Mystery by Jean Craighead
George.
Twelve-year-old Maggie receives European fire bugs for her birthday,
but when they fail to metamorphose and grow grossly large and
explode instead, she uses scientific reasoning to determine the
cause of their strange death. (Juv Fic M George)
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins.
Eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled
into a strange underground world, where they trigger an epic battle
involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders. First in
a series. (Juv Fic SF Collins)
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell.
Two boys set out to prove that worms can make a delicious meal.
(Juv Fic Rockwell)
Insect Invaders (Magic School Bus Science Chapter Book) by Joanna
Cole.
Ms. Frizzle's class finds out on a field trip that lots of insects
eat other insects for lunch. It's disgusting, but they have to
admit it's also fascinating! (Juv Fic Cole)
Insectlopedia: Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian.
Insects are amazing creatures, and they can inspire amazing poetry
and art, as this collection shows! (j811.54 Florian)
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.
James Henry Trotter escapes his wicked aunts in a giant enchanted
peach, where he befriends an assortment of hilarious characters,
including Grasshopper, Earthworm, Miss Spider, and Centipede.
(Juv Fic Dahl)
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman.
A splendid collection of poems about the lives and dreams of insects.
These unforgettable insects include a lovelorn moth and a charming
pair of head lice. Meant to be read aloud in two voices. (j811.54
Fleischman)
Outside and Inside Killer Bees by Sandra Markle.
Maybe more than you'd ever want to know about these scary insects…Great
photos show their anatomy, including a microscopic view of their
antennae, stinger, eye, and digestive system.( j595.799 Markle)
Spiders and Their Web Sites by Margery Facklam.
Striking, life-like artwork shows the living places and behaviors
of twelve different spiders, plus one creature that looks like
a spider but isn't. (j595.44 Facklam)
The Tarantula Scientist by Sy Montgomery.
Describes the research that the scientist Samuel Marshall and
his students are doing on tarantulas, including the largest spider
on earth, the Goliath birdeating tarantula. (j595.44 Montgomery)
The Transmogrification of Roscoe Wizzle by David Elliott.
After eating constantly at the fast food restaurant known as Gussy's,
ten-year-old Roscoe finds himself turning into a giant bug. (Juv
Fic SF Elliott)