BUG FACES

Going eyeball-to-eyeball with spiders, moths, cockroaches, flies, and a caterpillar’s behind might not be to every reader’s taste, but plenty of bug enthusiasts will enjoy leafing through this science picture book, which shows odd creatures dramatically enlarged and displayed against shrilly colored, glossy backgrounds. This first book by the author is not entirely successful, however. The text is a hodge-podge of odd facts about insect anatomy and the format is fussy. No sources, sizes, or even the scientific name of the insect are given. In many photos only a part of the insect is visible, making it a challenge to figure out what the whole creature looks like, or how big it really is. White text wiggles up the page, appears in bubbles, or shaped like the insect. They are not all bugs either: the author states, “ . . . to most people, a bug is anything small that creeps, crawls or flies.” A dozen bugs appeal, each with an enormous full-color photograph. Contrasting colors are used for backgrounds so the orange nursery-web spider is shown against a purple ground; red and black ladybug against green; and blue weevil against green and purple. Visually striking but short on substance. (Nonfiction. 8-10)