On One Flower: Butterflies, Ticks And a Few More Icks [Paperback]

Anthony D. Fredericks (Author), Jennifer Dirubbio (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Teachers, here is an elementary insect field trip between covers from Tony Fredericks, a funny but very astute professor. The trip takes place all on one flower, a goldenrod, which is practically a minibeast park. A butterfly sipping nectar . . . a ladybug snacking on aphids . . . oh ladybug, look out for the ambush bug! Dr. Fredericks focuses on the whole plant-and-animal community inhabiting a single flower. Two pages of Field Notes and fun facts at the back of the book offer intriguing information on these creatures.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3–A rhyming text, most of which is a cumulative poem, tells how two boys wander into a field and discover a thriving ecosystem on a single goldenrod flower. Couplets set on the backgrounds of vivid picture spreads identify each of the seven invertebrates that the children observe (a mix of insects and arachnids) and briefly describe one or two of their special physical and/or behavioral characteristics. An appendix offers some additional facts about the goldenrod and the featured invertebrates. Contact information for several conservation organizations is included. The realistic, full-color art is the book's best feature. The blue-eyed protagonists are attractive, the renderings of the small animals are close up and clear, and DiRubbio's use of a constantly changing perspective is refreshing. As for the poetry, while the lines may rhyme, they often make little sense. For instance, the couplet describing a tick reads, An eight-legged tick with a sensitive feel,/Waits on the stalk for a blood-sucking meal. What's a sensitive feel? And is it the meal that sucks blood, or the tick? Some word combinations are just awkward, such as the reference to invertebrates as bug-buggy critters, or a stinkbug as a smell-smelly critter. Readers attracted to the art are likely to be disappointed by the poetry.–Karey Wehner, formerly at San Francisco Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"...a perfect blend of scientific information and rhyming text - bug science thatÂ’s fun to read!" --Gary Dunn, Director of Education, Young EntomologistsÂ’ Society, Minibeast Zooseum and Education Center

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Dawn Pubns (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584690879
• ISBN-13: 978-1584690870
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,128,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tony ([e-mail])is an award-winning children's author well known for his energetic, humorous, and highly informative school visits throughout North America. His dynamic presentations have captivated thousands of students in Canada, Mexico, and across the United States ' all with rave reviews!
Tony is a former elementary teacher and reading specialist. He is the author of more than 100 books, including more than three-dozen children's books. His children's titles include Under One Rock (2002 Nature and Ecology Award); Slugs (2000 Outstanding Science Trade Book), Bloodsucking Creatures, Around One Cactus (2004 Teacher's Choice Award), Near One Cattail (2006 Green Earth Book Award), and The Tsunami Quilt: Grandfather's Story among others. Forthcoming titles include A is for Anaconda: A Rainforest Alphabet and Dinosaur Droppings.
Fredericks is also the author of several teacher resource books including the perennial favorite Frantic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folktales for Readers Theatre.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, informative, and highly desirable addition, October 7, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On One Flower: Butterflies, Ticks And a Few More Icks (Paperback)

On One Flower Flower: Butterflies, Ticks, and a Few More Icks memorably presents the variety of insect life and activities that are an indispensable part of a flower's ecosystem of interrelationships and interdependencies with animal life. Also available in a hardcover edition (1584690860), Anthony D. Fredericks' uniquely informative, science-based, rhyming text is beautifully illustrated by Jennifer Dirubbio making On One an entertaining, informative, and highly desirable addition to school and community library picturebook collections for young readers ranging from ages four to ten.