Customer Reviews

Flies (Animals in Order)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fine starter series for kids interested studying different animals. Flies: From Flower Flies to Mosquitoes is our most recent adventure with the wonderful and interesting Animals in Order series...what can I say, my kids just can't get enough of these! What I like a great deal about this is that it takes time at the beginning of the book to look at (briefly) what makes an animal fly, specifically getting into what traits exactly make an insect a fly. The book then goes into the "order" of living things which details the kingdom, phylum and class , order, family and species (with a handy visual chart for reference, great for younger kids, so they can SEE how it works rather than just read it or have it read to them). This is one of the better features of this series and the exact text appears in each book. Next the text goes specifically into where flies fit into animal kingdom, breaking it down (in words and pictures again) to kingdom (animal), phylum (arthropod), class (insect) and order (fly). In this section we learn that there are 30 different orders of insects -- flies make up ONE of them -- and that about 25% of all insects are flies!

The book also talks a bit about where flies fit into food chain and where they can be found in habitats including fields & gardens; your house; the woods, and around ponds & streams. . Flies: From Flower Flies to Mosquitoes goes from there into an overview of fourteen species complete with full page, color photographs for each one, which really serve to bring the information to life. This section includes Family, Common Example, Genus and Species and Size for each fly discussed and each animal is given one full page for written description and one full page COLOR photo...excellent for fully engaging the reader! Insects included here are flower flies, fruit flies, house flies, horse flies, dance flies, mosquitoes, and marsh flies.

Overall, a fantastic way to introduce various types of artiodactyls to your curious young reader! What you get in . Flies: From Flower Flies to Mosquitoes is an excellent overview of cross section of types of flies. Like some of the other books in the series on insects and bugs, . Flies: From Flower Flies to Mosquitoes includes a section, at the end, on how to be a fly watcher, which is always a welcome addition (hands on is always a good way to bring information in books alive for young readers). As always with this series, I was pleased to find that at the end of the book the author/publisher also included a short recommended reading list and some really great web pages to do more research on...the kids in particular LOVED this! The books in this series would make a wonderful addition to a classroom library or as gifts for your favorite young reader who has a passion for animals; the information here is scientifically presented, accented with wonderful color photos and is both interesting and informative!