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MathStart Level 1
The Best Bug Parade: Comparing Sizes
The bugs are on parade. One is big, the next is bigger, and the next is the biggest bug of all. Learning how to compare and contrast sizes is an important early math skill and one of the most basic forms of mathematical reasoning. In The Best Bug Parade children are introduced to this concept by some goofy-looking bugs who form a parade. Author Stuart J. Murphy and illustrator Holly Keller have made comparing sizes an enjoyable activity for the very youngest math student.
1996 Pick of the Lists' (ABA)
Author Biography:
Stuart J. Murphy is a visual learning specialist. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, he has a strong background in design and art direction. He also has extensive experience in the world of educational publishing. Drawing on all these talents, Stuart J. Murphy brings a unique perspective to the MathStart series. In MathStart books, pictures do more than tell stories; they teach math.
Stuart J. Murphy and his wife, Nancy, live in Evanston, Illinois.
36 pages, Library Binding
First published March 27, 1996
3 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Stuart J. Murphy
166 books60 followersPICTURES & WORDS, STORIES & BOOKS
MathStart http://www.mathstart.net
I See I Learn http://www.iseeilearn.com
I was one of those kids who talked all the time in class. I loved telling stories. One day in the 4th Grade, my teacher said, “You tell such good stories, maybe you should try writing some of them down.” “Wow,” I thought. “She thinks my stories are good.” That’s when I started to really enjoy writing.
I was also the class artist. When I wasn’t talking,I was drawing. When I was older, I studied art at the Rhode Island School
of Design. That’s where I became interested in visual learning—how we decode and acquire information from graphs, charts, diagrams, models, illustrations and other images.
I became especially interested in educational publishing and have worked on the development of over a dozen major textbook programs, championing visual learning strategies from Pre-K through high school in every major curriculum area.
MATHSTART
The inspiration to write math stories for children was sparked by my work on a high school mathematics program. Visual learning strategies helped teens—who had been characterized as “reluctant learners’—understand difficult math concepts. Putting math in the context of stories based on their experiences made them feel more comfortable with abstract concepts. They actually became eager to apply math to real-life problems.
If this approach worked for older students, I began to wonder what might happen if younger children were introduced to math this way!

Even before children can read—or speak many words—they can interpret visual information with ease. The MathStart books use simple stories coupled with diagrams, graphs and other visual models to teach everything from probability and pattern recognition to area, capacity and negative numbers.
The Best Bug Parade, (comparing sizes) was my very first published book. It was absolutely thrilling to see my name in print! I never expected that one day there would 63 MathStart books, split over three levels for ages Pre-K to Grade 4.
Each book includes two pages of review and activities designed to help teachers and parents extend learning beyond the story, along with suggestions of related books by other authors. After all, if a child enjoys learning math through stories, then let’s have more stories!
(Pictures, Words & Math: An interview with Stuart J. Murphy )
THE MAIN STREET KIDS' CLUB: A MATHSTART MUSICAL
Now get out your dancing shoes—there is a musical based on six of the MathStart books! The Main Street Kids’ Club was workshopped at Northwestern University and adapted by Scott Ferguson, who also created the perennially popular production of Schoolhouse Rock Live!
The songs are terrific. The math is spot on. And the club motto makes my heart sing: “Math Skills are Life Skills!”
STUART J. MURPHY'S I SEE I LEARN
My latest series of books is focused on young children—Preschool and Kindergarten age.
I See I Learn books teach social, emotional, health and safety, and cognitive skills, such as how to make friends, build confidence, play safely, work together, manage emotions, and make plans. These skills are important for school readiness and for living happy, healthy, productive lives.

The stories “star” a wonderful bunch of friends who live in See-and-Learn City and attend Ready Set Pre-K. The cast includes Freda, Percy, Emma, Ajay, Camille, and Carlos. And, of course, Pickle, the green bull dog—who happens to have a soft-spot for butterflies—and Miss Cathy, their teacher.
I See I Learn stories are modeled on real-life situations and, just as in real-life, often involve more than one skill. For example, Freda Plans a Picnic is about sequencing, a cognitive skill, but the picnic itself is a social event. Percy Plays It Safe focuses on playground safety skills, but playing successfully in a group also requires self-regulation, an emotional skill.
Each book is reviewed by a tea
MathStart http://www.mathstart.net
I See I Learn http://www.iseeilearn.com
I was one of those kids who talked all the time in class. I loved telling stories. One day in the 4th Grade, my teacher said, “You tell such good stories, maybe you should try writing some of them down.” “Wow,” I thought. “She thinks my stories are good.” That’s when I started to really enjoy writing.
I was also the class artist. When I wasn’t talking,I was drawing. When I was older, I studied art at the Rhode Island School
of Design. That’s where I became interested in visual learning—how we decode and acquire information from graphs, charts, diagrams, models, illustrations and other images.
I became especially interested in educational publishing and have worked on the development of over a dozen major textbook programs, championing visual learning strategies from Pre-K through high school in every major curriculum area.
MATHSTART
The inspiration to write math stories for children was sparked by my work on a high school mathematics program. Visual learning strategies helped teens—who had been characterized as “reluctant learners’—understand difficult math concepts. Putting math in the context of stories based on their experiences made them feel more comfortable with abstract concepts. They actually became eager to apply math to real-life problems.
If this approach worked for older students, I began to wonder what might happen if younger children were introduced to math this way!

Even before children can read—or speak many words—they can interpret visual information with ease. The MathStart books use simple stories coupled with diagrams, graphs and other visual models to teach everything from probability and pattern recognition to area, capacity and negative numbers.
The Best Bug Parade, (comparing sizes) was my very first published book. It was absolutely thrilling to see my name in print! I never expected that one day there would 63 MathStart books, split over three levels for ages Pre-K to Grade 4.
Each book includes two pages of review and activities designed to help teachers and parents extend learning beyond the story, along with suggestions of related books by other authors. After all, if a child enjoys learning math through stories, then let’s have more stories!
(Pictures, Words & Math: An interview with Stuart J. Murphy )
THE MAIN STREET KIDS' CLUB: A MATHSTART MUSICAL
Now get out your dancing shoes—there is a musical based on six of the MathStart books! The Main Street Kids’ Club was workshopped at Northwestern University and adapted by Scott Ferguson, who also created the perennially popular production of Schoolhouse Rock Live!
The songs are terrific. The math is spot on. And the club motto makes my heart sing: “Math Skills are Life Skills!”
STUART J. MURPHY'S I SEE I LEARN
My latest series of books is focused on young children—Preschool and Kindergarten age.
I See I Learn books teach social, emotional, health and safety, and cognitive skills, such as how to make friends, build confidence, play safely, work together, manage emotions, and make plans. These skills are important for school readiness and for living happy, healthy, productive lives.

The stories “star” a wonderful bunch of friends who live in See-and-Learn City and attend Ready Set Pre-K. The cast includes Freda, Percy, Emma, Ajay, Camille, and Carlos. And, of course, Pickle, the green bull dog—who happens to have a soft-spot for butterflies—and Miss Cathy, their teacher.
I See I Learn stories are modeled on real-life situations and, just as in real-life, often involve more than one skill. For example, Freda Plans a Picnic is about sequencing, a cognitive skill, but the picnic itself is a social event. Percy Plays It Safe focuses on playground safety skills, but playing successfully in a group also requires self-regulation, an emotional skill.
Each book is reviewed by a tea
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 16, 2021
Cute. Probably three stars for me, but my five-year-old loved it. Not really educational about bugs, but it uses bugs to help explain size comparisons so it's good for teaching the mathematics concept to bug enthusiasts :-)
April 11, 2020
Read to me by my five-year-old. <3
March 7, 2024
I really enjoyed this story! It is a charming book that introduces young readers to the concept of comparing sizes. The story features an assortment of bugs marching in a parade while showcasing all of their different sizes. Big, bigger, biggest, small, smaller, smallest! In a kindergarten or first-grade classroom, this book can be a great tool for exploring measurement and size comparison. After reading this book with students, the teacher could have the students sort various objects by size or even create their own bug parade with drawings or cutouts. Kids can further order them from smallest to largest. This book has made a hands-on way to bring math into the classroom and help students understand relative sizes in a tangible and fun manner. This book further creates a great chance to incorporate cross-curricular activities such as science (learning about bugs) and art (creating bug illustrations). I will definitely use this book in my future teaching!
December 7, 2016
Good book to teach about different bugs and their proportional size, compared to other insects. Great supplement for a math lesson, for sure. All about bugs lining up with next to each other, finding to who is biggest, smallest and right in between. Illustrations are in pen, ink, water color and pastel
September 25, 2020
This little "math literacy" book teaches the concepts of size comparison with comparative and superlative adjectives. It also provides an opportunity for counting, addition practice and skip counting odds (by counting the bugs in the parade as they are added).
October 27, 2025
I love this book my 5 year old selected from his school library. I didn't even realize "big" "bigger" "biggest" and "small" "smaller" "smallest" were words we hadn't explained yet. This book introduces these comparisons in an easily understandable way and 5 year olds LOVE bugs much to my chagrin.
April 29, 2018
This is an AWESOME book to teacher comparative concepts to smaller children.
September 22, 2020
A companion to the concepts of superlatives such as long, longer, and longest.
October 16, 2020
Big, small, short, long, etc. Too advanced for two year old
July 8, 2021
This book covers the early concepts of measurement and the proper grammar and terminology for explaining and comparing objects. This is a great book for early learners or reinforcing the concepts.
Read
September 10, 2021superlatives
April 21, 2022
Good book for teaching comparatives:
Short shorter shortest
Long longer longer
Big bigger biggest
Small smaller smallest
Good better best
The illustrations are simple and childlike.
Short shorter shortest
Long longer longer
Big bigger biggest
Small smaller smallest
Good better best
The illustrations are simple and childlike.
Read
September 15, 2022a very buggy parade and great exploration of size comparison
July 27, 2016
Time Machine
Best Bug Parade... 2.5 Stars, April 22, 2005
I like the MathStart Series *in general* but I wish there was more consistency from book to book. "Henry the Fourth" which explored ordinal numbers was great. The story had a cute plot and it kept my children's interest. "Missing Mittens" (which was all about even and odd numbers) had a clumsy rhyme and it wasn't nearly as good. This book about comparing-and-contrasting sizes is different still. It has too few words and virtually no plot. Take a look at the sentences from the first *3 pages*:
"I am big."
"I am bigger than you are."
"I am the biggest bug by far."
Not much plot development there, and while the pictures detail more activity, it is insufficient for young readers/viewers.
On the bright side the `summary' pages are good. They show the 3 bugs currently under discussion (small, smaller, smallest, for example) in juxtaposition which makes it easy to talk about the concepts.
So I would say that if you are willing to compose a story to go along with the pictures you can use this book to successfully teach your children about relative size. Without your input though they aren't going to get much out if it.
Material covered in "Best Bug Parade":
Big, bigger, biggest
Small, smaller, smallest
Long, longer, longest.
Short, shorter, shortest.
Good, Better, Best.
And as usual there are 2 pages of related activities suggested at the end of the book.
Pam T~
Best Bug Parade... 2.5 Stars, April 22, 2005
I like the MathStart Series *in general* but I wish there was more consistency from book to book. "Henry the Fourth" which explored ordinal numbers was great. The story had a cute plot and it kept my children's interest. "Missing Mittens" (which was all about even and odd numbers) had a clumsy rhyme and it wasn't nearly as good. This book about comparing-and-contrasting sizes is different still. It has too few words and virtually no plot. Take a look at the sentences from the first *3 pages*:
"I am big."
"I am bigger than you are."
"I am the biggest bug by far."
Not much plot development there, and while the pictures detail more activity, it is insufficient for young readers/viewers.
On the bright side the `summary' pages are good. They show the 3 bugs currently under discussion (small, smaller, smallest, for example) in juxtaposition which makes it easy to talk about the concepts.
So I would say that if you are willing to compose a story to go along with the pictures you can use this book to successfully teach your children about relative size. Without your input though they aren't going to get much out if it.
Material covered in "Best Bug Parade":
Big, bigger, biggest
Small, smaller, smallest
Long, longer, longest.
Short, shorter, shortest.
Good, Better, Best.
And as usual there are 2 pages of related activities suggested at the end of the book.
Pam T~
February 9, 2017
Text to Self
This book reminds me of the Springtime. It has pictures of beautiful flowers and bugs that I would often see. I liked to draw pictures of butterflies and flowers and color them based on what I would actually see.
This book reminds me of the Springtime. It has pictures of beautiful flowers and bugs that I would often see. I liked to draw pictures of butterflies and flowers and color them based on what I would actually see.
December 12, 2009
This is another fun story in the MathStart series by Stuart J. Murphy. We like these books; they incorporate math principles into the story and show how math is fun and necessary for everyday life.
A fun book about bugs that also teaches about relative sizes and opposites. It's colorful, fun, and educational, without being too overbearing. And the narrative is simple enough for beginning readers. Our girls enjoyed this book.
A fun book about bugs that also teaches about relative sizes and opposites. It's colorful, fun, and educational, without being too overbearing. And the narrative is simple enough for beginning readers. Our girls enjoyed this book.
February 28, 2012
The Best Bug Parade is a cute fun book that talks about length. The bugs in the story are having a parade but some bugs are bigger and some bugs are smaller. This is a great book for talking about comparison with your students. You could even incorporate science into the lesson by talking about the different species of bugs in the story. The children could even make their own bugs and then compare it to their classmates.
June 24, 2011
This book is a good resource for K and 1st levels in the beginning stages of learning measurement. The book discusses "big/bigger/biggest" and "small/smaller/smallest", and students could practice comparing sizes and lengths of various objects to create a fundamental knowledge of comparative sizes.
November 21, 2012
I would use this book to teach about comparison. I would let students draw their own imaginary bugs. They would then cut it out. We would arrange the bugs in order of size, and we would create our own bug parade.
Extension: We can also compare the students in class. Who is bigger? Who is smaller? Who is older? Who is youngest?
Extension: We can also compare the students in class. Who is bigger? Who is smaller? Who is older? Who is youngest?
October 10, 2014
I wished there was a little more story to go along with the comparisons the book makes. My daughter, a first grader, proclaimed it a "baby" book and could not be interested in it at all. It did not interest my preschooler much either.
April 16, 2012
"The Best Bug Parade" is a wonderful book to use for teaching measurement to children. The pictures in this book are great, and make for easy comparisons in regards to comparing sizes. I would use this book in first grade.
October 8, 2012
This is an adorable book about bugs having a parade. It compares the sizes of bugs. It also rhymes. Each page compares more and most (small, smaller, smallest). It is a great book to use when trying to get studetns to understand size.
December 2, 2012
This is a great book to read to children when teaching about size, length, or maybe even species of bugs. The illustrations are great and very colorful. This book can be used for Science and Math. This book is great for younger children.
June 13, 2014
I love it when I can bring math into storytime, and this book does exactly that. It is a good choice for those who are learning "size perception."
Subjects
Insects -- Juvenile fiction
Size perception -- Juvenile fiction.
Parades -- Juvenile fiction.
Subjects
Insects -- Juvenile fiction
Size perception -- Juvenile fiction.
Parades -- Juvenile fiction.
Read
April 17, 2008E Mur
June 14, 2021
The Best Bug Parade (Paperback)
by Stuart J. Murphy
a young resource book on organization an category, used for kindergarten as a math sorting lesson.
by Stuart J. Murphy
a young resource book on organization an category, used for kindergarten as a math sorting lesson.
Read
March 14, 2012great way to cross content (science & math)
number relationships
comparative language (big, bigger, biggest, smaller, etc.)
insects/bugs (2nd grade)
number relationships
comparative language (big, bigger, biggest, smaller, etc.)
insects/bugs (2nd grade)
December 3, 2012
This book is so cute . It discusses the sizes of bugs. I would use this book in math, when the topic weight/ size is being presented. I live the pictures. This book is so engaging.
October 4, 2013
This would be a good book for insect storytime. It has some math concepts but they are well incorporated in the story so kids won't get bored.
October 12, 2012
A variety of different bugs compare their relative sizes while going on parade.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews