review: Bugs By the Numbers

Bugs By the Numbers written and illustrated by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss. Green Apple, 2011 (978-60905-061-0) $19.99

You might guess from the cover image that this book is visually arresting and you'd be right. A follow-up to the award-winning Alphabeasties, it features bugs impressively created from numerals; the already large book has an even bigger impact with many cut pages that fold out. It's not actually a counting book, but each page gives numeric facts about a bug: "scorpions have 8 legs. They're arachnids, relatives of spiders. Scorpions are very adaptable. Many species are able to live for 1 year on 1 meal." For each of these factual snippets, the graphic designers had a field day; simpler uses of color and plenty of white space keep the pages from seeming impossibly busy. (5 & up)

© 2011 Wendy E. Betts

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