Bugs for Lunch

by Margery Facklam, Sylvia Long (Illustrator)

Overview

Discover the variety of bug-eaters—animal, plant, even human—in this exploration of both poetry and the natural world. Facklam’s playful rhymes mixed with Long’s vivid illustrations introduce young readers to an array of creatures as they munch on lunch. From a mantis perched and ready to prey on ladybugs, a spider trapping a fly, to the honey-drenched fur of a big brown bear chewing on a hive full of bees, Bugs for Lunch will give curious readers plenty of food for thought delivered in a playful package.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780881062724
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	02/01/1999
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.56(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.12(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Margery Facklam never gave much thought to eating bugs until she was served mealworm fritters and cricket tarts at a party at the Buffalo Museum of Science. After receiving a birthday gift of mealworm brittle, she was hooked and was inspired to write BUGS FOR LUNCH. Margery has authored more than thirty books, including THE BIG BUG BOOK (Little, Brown), and I EAT DINNER (Boyds Mills Press).

Editorial Reviews

Here's the buzz from this chipper picture book: though they may not be everyone's favorite dish, bugs make tasty treats for many creatures, even humans. In simple rhyming verse, Facklam (The Big Bug Book) offers a list of critters that regularly dine on insects: "If your lunch was a bug,/ Who could you be?/ Maybe a nuthatch/ At work in a tree... You might be a gecko/ Or maybe a mouse,/ Eating the insects/ In somebody's house." An illustrated glossary expands on these basics, providing a plethora of fun facts. Simultaneously crisp and airy, Long's (Hush Little Baby; Ten Little Rabbits) pen, ink and watercolor compositions capture the natural world in realistic detail. Many young readers will delight in the "yuck" factor of depictions of children eating grubs roasted over a campfire or serving up stir-fried dragonflies on rice. Ages 3-8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Gr 2-Facklam's cheerful, rhyming text introduces the read-to-me set (and beginning readers as well) to a variety of critters whose collation of choice is insects. A bat, a toad, a spider, a Venus flytrap, and even humans are shown catching an assortment of bugs on every eye-catching double-page spread. The excellent pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are large, colorful, and realistic, showing not only the designated diner and intended entr e, but also a host of other insects, from ladybugs to damselflies, creeping and crawling and flittering about inside and outside of the margins. The closing three pages provide brief, informative paragraphs on each "bug-catcher," emphasizing its hunting methods. Unfortunately, the plethora of prey is largely left unidentified, which will probably lead to frustrating questions from young admirers of this handsome volume. Still, this is an attractive, high-interest book with an intriguing title and dramatic illustrations.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

The gastronomical oddity of eating winged and many-legged creatures is fleetingly examined in a superficial text that looks at animals and people who eat insects. Bugs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are gobbled up by a shrew, an aardvark, a bear, a gecko, and others. The rhyme scheme limits the information presented; specificity about the types of insects eaten is sacrificed for the sake of making the rhyme flow, e.g., a mouse, a trout, a praying mantis, a nuthatch, and a bat are repeatedly said to eat "bugs" or "insects" in general, rather than naming the mayflies, moths, or grubs they enjoy. An author's note explains her choice of the word bugs for all crawly things; an addendum takes care of other particulars lacking in the text. Long's exacting pen-and-ink style lends a naturalistic perfection to this visual playground of the insect world, enhancing this glimpse of vital link in the food chain. (Picture book. 4-7) .

Kirkus Reviews