Review by Booklist Review
A clean layout, featuring large type on a white background and full-color photos, gives the new Creepy Creatures series a fresh, bright look. Although most kids won't really think crickets are creepy, there is definitely some potentially yucky information included here, such as the fact that some crickets eat other (dead) crickets. In addition, in some of the extreme close-up images, the crickets resemble giant aliens with bulbous eyes, spiny bodies and legs, and long antennae rather than fairly quotidian and common terrestrial creatures, which will fascinate young insect lovers. It's helpful that many of the images are to scale; one cricket is shown next to a ruler to let kids know exactly how big these animals are (and aren't). Helpful back matter includes instructions for making cricketlike sounds, a glossary, an index, and a list of recommended books and websites. Other animals covered in this series include centipedes, mantises, scorpions, spiders, and worms.--Foote, Diane Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-Riveting, close-up photos of mantises looking inscrutably at readers and brightly lit centipedes and spiders either in natural settings or cut out and placed on blank backgrounds will draw young audiences to these introductions. The texts have two or three large-type sentences per page, and each volume includes a quick craft as well as a four-item list of print and web resources. The factual information is easily available elsewhere, but both the illustrations and their subjects are high-interest. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Brief texts address basic questions about the title creatures: How big are they? What do they eat? Where do they live? The factual information is useful but incomplete. Extreme close-up photos will leave insect and arachnid fans enthralled. Each book includes a very simple craft or project (e.g., rub a stick over a comb's teeth to replicate crickets' songs). Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. [Review covers these Creepy Creatures titles: Centipedes, Crickets, Mantises, and Spiders.] (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
