INSECTLOPEDIA

The creator of In the Swim (1997) joins Paul Fleischman (in Joyful Noise, 1987) in poetically praising insects. Read alone or read aloud, each of these ticklish tidbits features an individual member of the insect world, and focuses on attributes, foibles, and antics displayed in the eight-legged community. The daddy longlegs is accused of engaging in spiderobics, the walking stick performs a disappearing trick, and mosquitoes feast on the skin as ""take-out."" Some of the entries rely on clever wordplay, while others are examples of concrete poetry; the text takes on the hump of the inchworm or the spiral movements of the whirligig beetle. The watercolor illustrations, abstract and stylized, achieve a comic effect by incorporating collage elements reminiscent of an entomolgist's field notes.