Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Big Bug, Little Bug
Novelty Book
For ages 3 to 5
Scholastic, 2011 ISBN: 978-0545253802
Children love bright colors and big pictures; and they really love bugs. Face it, when you are a child, creatures with lots of legs, waving antennae, and large eyes are irresistible. For this novelty book, Paul Strickland has created illustrations of insects that are expressive and that are so large and colorful that they almost seem to jump off the pages.
The first spread shows a big (actually it’s enormous) pink beetle, and a small blue/green grasshopper. With gentle smiles the two very different insects look at each other, and, when they look at the picture, children will have no problem seeing the difference between big and small. Next, we see a stripy beetle, which has really long legs, and a spotty butterfly. The stripes are bright, and the spots are very…well…spotty.
Paul Stickland goes on to show the differences between hard and soft, one and lots, underground and aboveground, black and white, day and night. He wraps up his bug-centric exploration of opposites with a double page pop-up that is sure to delight readers of all ages.
