SO RUDE!

Proof positive that some animals don’t have very good manners.

Grown-ups may say, “Be a gracious house guest,” but the aptly named tongue-eating louse and the braconid wasp, whose larvae literally feed on their caterpillar hosts, don’t follow human rules. With a sure eye for examples that will thrill readers weary of hearing adults tell them how to behave, Fries-Gaither highlights 20 wild miscreants, from chinstrap penguins apt to steal rocks for their nests from those of their neighbors to turkey vultures who poop on their own feet to the female Photuris firefly, who responds to a pass from a male of another species by “sucking his blood and then devouring his body.” Big, bright color photos of each creature in action (even that firefly) support the author’s often lurid claims. She closes by explaining that all of this supposed misbehavior really just helps the animals take care of survival or other needs; the appended bibliography is filled with resources to learn about more of wild nature’s gross and gruesome bad actors. The smiling parents in the opening family scene are a biracial couple.

Gleeful fun, with generous doses of both fact and attitude.