Amazon.com Review
Dragonfly, Beetle, Butterfly, Bee is naturalist painter Maryjo Koch's second book in this lovely series to be honored as a Scientific American Book of the Year. Beautiful full-color illustrations are devoted to each of the insects named in the title, illuminating the wide variety of creatures within each species. Take a close-up look at the eyespots of moths and butterflies, delicate drawings of wings, and the circles of insects dubbed "good bugs" and "bad bugs." Though not specifically geared toward children, this title has more of a childlike theme running through it than any of the other books in this wonderful series. "Ladybird, ladybird, fly away, do! Fly to the mountain to feed upon dew. Feed upon dew, and when you are through, ladybird, ladybird, fly home again, do!" This traditional Chinese nursery rhyme accompanies a beautiful page full of tiny flying ladybirds. Do you wonder how these familiar little insects got their name? The answer and other little nuggets of information are included in the informative, charming, and meticulously hand-lettered text.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Scientific American
... about 100 large pages are dazzlingly filled by this poetic and precise artist. Apt citations abound, from Edmund Spenser to Ogden Nash, and painstaking depictions of honey jars and bug spray containers add an insouciant immediacy to this flood of small paintings.... Some book!
