Insect Bodies

by Molly Aloian, Bobbie Kalman

There are more than a million species of insects living on Earth, and all insects have similar bodies. In Insect Bodies, children will learn the major physical features of insects and the importance of each body part. Close-up photographs and clearly labeled illustrations help explain - an insect's three main body sections - the different kinds of insect mouthparts - how insects use their eyes and antennae - why and how insects molt as they grow - how insects move Teacher's guide available.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, if you are actually looking for a picture book about insects that is both entertaining and at the same time educational, in my opinion, Molly Aloian and Bobby Kalman’s Insect Bodies (from their World of Insects series) should probably not be considered as a really good and engaging reading choice (and in particular so if entertainment value is in fact the primary reading goal and objective desired and envisioned). For although Aloian and Kalman’s presented narrative with regard to their Insect Bodies is certainly scientifically sound, massively interesting and delightfully enlightening (and indeed and happily, also textually presented by Aloian and Kalman without them, without the joint authors making use of potentially confusing entomology specific scientific jargon), showing not only what types of bodies ALL insects have (three distinct parts, an exoskeleton, six legs, right and left side looking exactly identical) but also that there are many many different types of insects of varying sizes, inhabiting varied ecosystems and consuming vastly different types of food (with some insects being carnivores, some vegetarian, some omnivorous and with many insects also functioning as scavengers, as consuming dead and decaying plant and animal matter), the text for Insect Bodies is also first and foremost rather drily informational, not a huge problem for me and my reading tastes and in fact also quite appreciated, but I do feel that I should at least warn potential readers that entertaining and featuring an actual storyline to be followed Insect Bodies certainly is not (but in fact also really should not be).

So yes, for what it is supposed to be accomplishing, Insect Bodies totally does in my humble opinion achieve its goal, giving a basic but sufficiently thorough introduction to and understanding of in particular insect bodies and their physiology and also at the same time insects in general (and accompanied by both photographs and realistic colour illustrations, the combination of text and images for Insect Bodies is truly quite successful, with the visuals to and for me perfectly and enlighteningly mirroring Molly Aloian and Bobby Kalman’s printed words). And thus, I definitely do recommend Insect Bodies and probably the entire World of Insects series for basic educational purposes (and for older children from about the age of six to nine years of age), and with my only (but still rather academically major for me) issue being that there is no included bibliographic material whatsoever, and that this does in my opinion totally and frustratingly lessen the supplemental research value of Insect Bodies.