This book would be worth the read just for the illustrations. The title pages shows a long, multi-legged bug all in yellow serving as a school bus for small bugs. The title itself appears on the back of this incredibly loooong bug. The verso and dedication pages show young insects making their way to school using their wings, hitching a ride on a blowing leaf, or clutching a swirling maple seed. Details throughout the collection include backpacks with multiple straps (insects have more than two arms, after all),while the cricket lessons show a series of nighttime scenes with the moon looking on and wearing a nightcap.
The text of the poems are incredibly funny and will remind readers of favorites like Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein. If the answer to every visit to the clinic is, "I'd better take some blood," can you imagine what type of insect is the nurse? The praying mantis bemoans how hard it is not to eat classmates at lunchtime. And grasshoppers are very upset to learn that people eat them: "It's fine to eat the farmer's crop but eating US has got to stop!!"
An amusing anthology that would work well with the study of poetry or units on insects, and perfect for a multidisciplinary approach combining the two. Poems like these are helpful to use with reluctant poetry students who assume that the sentiments in Valentine's cards are the only type of poetry that exist, i.e. mushy, gushy, romantic stuff. Showing that poetry can be used to reflect on any subject of interest, even stink bugs, can lure boys and reluctant readers into trying out this genre.
I received a copy from the publisher for review purposes.
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