Who says bugs aren't cute? Lewis zeros in on insects' best assets in this poetry book with a quirky concept: it's the grand opening of the Face Bug Museum, which features closeup photos of insects. The accompanying poems are nimble and playful. One praises a feathery Goldenrod Stowaway Moth: "Startled by her beauty, I/ Bend down and whisper, 'Hello.'/ A moth has perched upon a flower,/ A 'goldenrod,' bright yellow." Museum visitors, ink-drawn cartoon bugs, provide funny side narratives (two butterflies take a break at the museum's "Nectar Cafe"), while acting out some of the bug behaviors mentioned in the poems (e.g., a stinkbug lives up to its reputation). Siskind's extraordinary photographs display every bristle, dew drop, and antenna. After appreciating these intimate portraits, readers will think twice before swatting a fly. Ages 6-up. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
K-Gr 5-Visitors to this book get close-up, photographic views of 15 amazing creatures, including the Hickory Horned Devil and the Nursery Web Spider, whose eyes are impossible to avoid counting. "Eight black eyes in a whiskery face,/Eight round eyes in a dark crawl space/That never bother blinking back/Could give a kid a heart attack!" The endnotes, "written" in first person by the various bugs, describe "Where I Live," "How I Grow," "What I Eat," and "What Eats Me" with scientific accuracy and humor. Budding bug fans will love this title. The poems are funny and based on actual bug behavior and attributes, the photographic portraits of the faces and eyes are marvelous, and the ink and graphite drawings guide readers through the museum collection. Murphy's anthropomorphized creatures visit the "Nectar Cafe" and try on different pairs of glasses to sample being bug-eyed, compound-eyed, eight-eyed. The interactive science museum has gizmos such as cicada sound buttons and a camouflaged Goldenrod Stowaway Moth hidden in a cluster of flowers. Readers will not see bugs again in the same way: "You may think you've seen our Show Bugs in the trees or in the sky,/But you never really know bugs till you look them in the eye." There will be many returns to the Face Bug Museum as this book has so much to offer. Wonderfully conceived and executed.-Teresa Pfeifer, The Springfield Renaissance School, Springfield, MA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
