UNDERCOVER BUGS

Ants, spiders, and other creepy-crawlies swarm beneath concealing foliage and ground litter in this many-legged creature feature.

Cassany’s descriptive notes are longer on enthusiasm than accuracy—not all bees live in hives, for instance. And it’s misleading to claim that crickets only “used to” be kept as pets in China and sloppy to put moths under the rubric “Queens of the Night” and designate mantises “The Queens of Camouflage” while never actually mentioning females in either entry. Still, the large, handsome illustrations teem with close-up natural detail and offer thrills or (depending on the sensibility of the viewer) chills aplenty. Beginning on the front cover with a die-cut hole, cutouts on alternate spreads allow viewers glimpses of busy activity that is revealed in full with a page turn. With a few exceptions, like the ladybugs swarming over clusters of ripe grapes, Pérez Herrero goes for multispecies assemblages that number anywhere from a few dozen individuals to hundreds. Some, such as the army of garden spiders, are all too visible, but others, moths and mantises in particular, are lightly disguised amid similarly toned leaves and twigs to create simple visual challenges. The die cuts work only when they’re on the right side; except for the wood beetles’ entry (and that probably only by chance), once turned, the cutouts just show random snippets of the previous illustration rather than bits that blend into the uncut scenes. Luckily, the gimmick doesn’t distract from the pleasures of encountering…so many of…our small and busy animal neighbors.

Weak on factual background but a treat for outdoorsy sorts.