Florian, Douglas. 1998. Insectlopedia. San Diego, California. Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0152013067
Plot Summary:
Insectlopedia makes you want to get out the bug spray as Douglas Florian skillfully describes 21 different types of creepy, crawling insects. These insect poems celebrate swooping dragonflies, whirling beetles, army ants and feasting mosquitoes. As you read these poems aloud your listeners can visualize insects swarming, buzzing and slitting all over the place. The illustrations are wonderful. The bright watercolors of light and dark blues, greens and yellows all collage together making great visual aides for the listeners and readers.
Critical Analysis:
Douglas Florian brings the Black Widow spider, Weevils and many other insects to life. He gives insects a voice. As you read about the Black Widow spider you can picture in your mind her dress attire as she states: "I always wear black. From my eight dainty legs to my shiny round back." Florian's book Insectlopedia is a specialized anthology, it focuses on insects. His book gives life to the insect world. The reader will enjoy opening up and letting this infestation of bugs into his or her room. The subject and writing style makes this book appealing to elementary students. This book opens with a table of content, making it a good source to look up particular insects. This book is both informative and fun, engaging young readers' interest in words and images.
Review Excerpt(s):
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-6?As he did in Beast Feast (1994), On The Wing (1996), and In the Swim (1997, all Harcourt), Florian offers 21 short, inventive poems and paintings that create playful images of animals. Here, the subjects are arthropods such as the mayfly, praying mantis, hornet, black widow spider, and weevils. The verse form is as varied as the creatures presented. Shaped or pattern poems about the inchworm, whirligig beetles, and mound-building termites work particularly well. The words are arranged in pleasing patterns and the rhythms fit the characteristics of the subjects. The design adds to the overall appeal. Each selection is given its own page, allowing for the use of large type and plenty of glossy white space, and paired with a full-page watercolor with a neat border of white. These portraits build on the imaginatively integrated realistic and anthropomorphic images created in the text. There are other books of poetry about insects and lots of collections of humorous verses about animals but none match Insectlopedia.?Carolyn Angus, The Claremont Graduate School, CA Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 3^-5. Florian, the author/illustrator of beast feast (1994) and on the wing (1996), now presents a witty collection of short poems about insects and spiders. The verse rhymes at the ends of lines, and often internally as well, as Florian plays with sound and meter, word and sense, and even the placement of words on the page to create poems that children will enjoy, such as "The io moth / Has mam-moth eyes / That are not real--/ They're a disguise / To ward off birds / And other creatures, / Like garter snakes / And science teachers." The illustration on the facing page shows that the "mam-moth eyes" are eyespots on the moth's wings. The book is handsomely designed, with each short poem appearing on a large white page across from a full-color illustration. The artwork consists of collages of drawn and painted images and printed letters on paper that is cut and juxtaposed for effect. The clever artwork, deftly constructed, and the entertaining collection of insect and arachnid verse it illustrates will delight readers. Carolyn Phelan
Connections:
- Use to introduce poems
- Use to emerge entomologists into poetry
- Make a word search of the insects from this book
- Have students bring insects to class to write a poem about
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