Wings, Stings and Wriggly Things (SuperSmarts) (MiniBeasts) (Hardcover)

by Martin Jenkins (Author), Sandra Doyle (Illustrator), Sarah Fox-Davies (Illustrator), Clive Pritchard (Illustrator), Ian Thompson (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-3?Fascinating facts, picture strips, foldout pages, and true-or-false questions are among the features of this series. Wings includes bees, snails, and spiders; Disguises looks at frogs, geckos, and screech owls. Much of the information is of interest, but the cluttered page layouts create an almost impenetrable montage. Double-page spreads show one large picture of an animal against a mottled background. Boxed insets include bright backgrounds with colored, speckled borders in which colorful boxed numbers are themselves inset. Another set of color-boxed numbers guides readers through a set of disordered facts, leading one to wonder why there is a need for numbering at all. Jenkins's well-intentioned text, aimed at addressing children in their own vernacular, serves only to undermine the accuracy of the information presented. A grasshopper "oozes a gross-tasting liquid...." (Gross to whom? Did someone actually taste it?) And spiders pull silk out of their bodies "from holes near their bottom." (Does "bottom" mean underside, abdomen, or do spiders have "bottoms" like people?) Llewellyn's text sometimes imposes human assessments on animals. "Panther chameleons are crotchety creatures," readers are told. Fortunately, a number of better books, such as Anita Ganeri's Animals in Disguise (S & S, 1995), are available.?Lisa Wu Stowe, Great Neck Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
An introduction to the world of tiny creatures includes everything from butterflies and bees to snails and a bird-eating spider that lives in Guyana, complete with fold-out pages and richly detailed illustrations.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 24 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (September 2, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763600369
• ISBN-13: 978-0763600365
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,997,765 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Wings, Stings and Wriggly Things (SuperSmarts), January 15, 2009

By	Anna M. Ligtenberg "AnnaLovesBooks" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

ISBN 0763600369 - Bugs are very cool. As it happens, books are pretty cool, too. Put them together and you get... squished bugs! No, really, you get an educational book about bugs that boys, in particular, will enjoy.

Butterflies, snails, bees, worms, dragonflies, spiders, grasshoppers and crickets, ants and beetles are all topics of their own sections. Each section is about 2 pages, although there are a couple fold-out pages. The book includes some basic facts, a little bit of the "yuck" factor, an index and some quiz questions (with the answers in the back).

Author Martin Jenkins manages to walk the line between "ew, bugs" and "cool, bugs" pretty well. The information is interesting and, even when it's a little gross, fascinating. Illustrations by Sandra Doyle, Clive Pritchard, and Ian Thompson really make the book come alive. Although the images are slightly cartoon-ish, they're fairly realistic and, in a non-fiction book, that matters a lot. The index is a nice tool and not too common in children's books. The quiz questions are printed on the borders of the pages and are a little too easy to miss and the answers aren't in the text, which is a bit odd. Still, educational and likely to appeal to boys (who are generally less into books than girls) are two things that carry a lot of weight for me!

- AnnaLovesBooks

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wings, Stings and Wriggly Things, May 11, 2009

By	N. Hale "craftysoprano" (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A good additional reference for your children to explore in addition to their regular curriculum/lessons.