Cicada

With the buzz of cicadas still ringing in everyone's ears, this volume from the Extreme Life Cycles series (4 titles) couldn't be better timed. It walks readers through the stages of a cicada's development, from egg to nymph to adult, using a close-up photo and a few short sentences on each colorful page. Underlined vocabulary is defined in a glossary, while some terms (ovipositor, nymph) are explained in the main text. The most intriguing phase of a cicada's life has to be when, as a nymph, it burrows underground, where it will live off of root sap for 2 to 17 years, depending on the species. The noisy emergence of these insects will always fascinate, and curious kids will find answers to many of their cicada-related questions in this book.

Gr 3--5--Each of these animals exhibits at least one highly unusual feature in their life cycles, such as the cicada's extended nymph stage. After a brief introduction to the concept of life cycles and a quick profile of the featured animal, key developmental stages are examined. Special attention is given to the most extreme behaviors: four pages detail the way parasitoid wasp larvae eat their host animal (Parasitoid Wasp). Readers might wish for more detail in some cases. The male-female dynamics of clown fish is described, but the number of fish that make up a typical shoal is not given. Half-page photographs appear on every page within a rectangular frame. Many are useful depictions of the animal at specific stages. Pages are decorated with cutout cartoon drawings of each animal; these are occasionally distracting, especially when placed fully within the photo frame. VERDICT Worth considering for subject holes.