Children of Summer: Henri Fabre's Insects (Hardcover)

~ Margaret J. Anderson (Author), Marie Le Glatin Keis (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6. Paul, 10, is fascinated by insects, an interest engendered by his father, Henri Fabre, who has studied the creatures for most of his life. The boy and his two younger sisters help Pere gather material for a textbook, often accompanying him on field trips into their untamed backyard. Children of Summer briefly describes over a dozen of their scientific adventures from altering the path of a group of pine caterpillars, to studying the behavior of undertaker beetles and ground wasps. There is much that is admirable in this slim title. The text is clearly written and the material on insect behavior is intriguing, particularly the responses of various species to the experiments. Soft pen-and-pencil drawings of the family and the small creatures they study, plus the occasional silhouette, evoke the book's 19th-century French setting. Henri Fabre's voice dominates the narrative; Paul merely passes on his father's observations and findings. Indeed, several of the short chapters included are straight reminiscences of the man's childhood?e.g., how Henri taught himself to read and how his duck-herding activities inspired his love of nature. In the original works on which this title is based, the 10 volume Souvenirs Entomologiques, Fabre himself spoke directly to his readers in a charming, if verbose style. Anderson's book will nonetheless appeal to serious young naturalists curious about the work of a famous and idiosyncratic scientist.?Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4^-7. Imagine having a father who is known as a hermit, accused of being a poacher, and thought to be strange and simpleminded. According to this fictionalized story, French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre, a contemporary and correspondent of Darwin and a friend of John Stuart Mill, may have been such a man. Using the voice of Fabre's 10-year-old son Paul, who, according to Fabre's own writings, often helped his father, Anderson tells of Fabre's passion for learning about cicadas, scorpions, and the other "children of summer." The man's curious behavior will draw readers in, and the descriptions of the oddities of the insect world will keep them interested: children are bound to remember Fabre's shooting a cannon to test cicadas' hearing and the family's eating a meal of cossus grubs. Although this is fiction, not science how-to, the book may, perhaps, inspire some unusual science projects about insect behavior. Karen Morgan

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (April 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374312435
• ISBN-13: 978-0374312435
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #550,772 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabri's Insects is "fabrulous!", February 13, 2000

By A Customer

This story is told from the point of view of Paul, Henri Fabri's son. Paul relates his boyhood experiences being involved with his father's lifework, the study of insects. This is a true "living" science book that will grab your children's interest. Each chapter focuses on one insect that Fabri and his children studied. The pencil drawings focus on the close family relations of this homeschooling family in the 1800's. The drawings also clearly illustrate the insects. This book may inspire the study of an insect and recording the findings in a nature notebook. I look forward to reading more books in this series.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We loved this book..., July 21, 2003

By	Lindsay Lowry - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fabre was such a wonderful writer, such love for the creatures and things he writes about. Margaret Anderson incorporates his own words in this story. It is probably written for ages 7-10, but so beautifully done that older children and adults should love it too. Beautiful book. Hope it comes back into print!