Spider Books

In a Caribbean story from this book, the spider Anansi challenges Cockroach to a climbing contest. Anansi, using his webs, then rapidly ascends to the top of a tree, only to find Cockroach waiting for him. The great trickster had forgotten that cockroaches have wings! Cockroaches creatures are constantly underestimated by human beings as well, and few people have even noticed the way images of cockroaches pervade our culture, in everything from comic books and movies to scientific laboratories. They fascinate us, without our even realizing it. For author Marion W. Copeland, the cockroach is a special challenge to our capacity for empathy with other creatures. It is not that cockroaches actually need our sympathy, since, as the author points out at the beginning of her book, they have already survived for 300 million years. The concern is more that we need to be able to acknowledge our kinship with cockroaches, as well as the more glamorous animals like chimpanzees and tigers, to fully participate in the great community of life.

Pocket Pests Cockroach
Designed for the budding entomologist, this book offers a wonderful introduction into the world of cockroaches. We learn what they look like, where they live, what (or whom) they eat, how they defend themselves. And best of all, the book comes with an incredibly realistic, life-size plastic bug! Hardcover with the toy attached to the front, 16 pages, 0.5 x 4.2 x 5.2 inches.

I am a third-grade teacher who ordered this book for my class. I live in the warm climate of Morocco, where cockroaches are as common as flies. My kids are absolutely fascinated by this book, and it is one of the most popular books in my class.

This book is one of the best animal books for children that I've ever seen, as are all the other books in the Early Bird Nature Series. In 48 pages, there are 41 outstanding, full-color photographs. The enlarged text is perfect both for reading to a child, or for a child to read to himself. The language and book design are perfect for a child between Grades 2 and 4, but even quite interesting even for me, as an adult!

Topics covered are: the many different kinds of cockroaches, and where they live all over the world; that they are nocturnal, and what that means; their various body parts, and the functions of each of those parts; what they eat and drink; how they clean themselves; how and where eggs are laid; how their babies live and grow up; molting; enemies of cockroaches; how long they have lived on the Earth; how they are able to travel to new places using people when they move; and about some cockroaches who are kept as pets, or who live in nature, as in the jungle, far from people.

The first page in the book both introduces new vocabulary words to be found in the text, and also explains where to find the small glossary at the back of the book, and how to use it.

I highly recommend this book for your child. It will give you hours of fascination reading together. It would also be an excellent edition to any school library. I purchased the library-bound edition, which is both attractive and tough. The cover photo is extraordinary-a big close-up of a cockroach.

College-level collections strong in entomological references will find an invaluable detail to COCKROACHES, a review of the approximately 4,000 species within the suborder Blattaria. Chapters explore the history and behavior of cockroaches, describing their colors, shapes, diet, reproduction habits and more, and including analysis of the ecology and evolution of the species. Over 100 illustrations and an expanded glossary enhance a coverage packed with charts and black and white illustrations, making COCKROACHES a specialty pick well suited for any collection delving into insect natural history.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Issue 4 leaves the reader hanging! I loved the first three issues and can't wait to get issue 5!

Like the others books by Michael Chinery, this is the most completed field guide for insects. Easy for a beginnner and plenty of informations, pictures and notes on a lot of species. Very good! Excellent!

My two year old daughter loves all of these books. We have taken them on the plane and down to the local cafe while having coffee. The stickers are robust,don't rip and keep her amused while I have my coffee. We have all of these books and rotate them to keep up the interest levels. They are largely toddler proof and a better investment than most sticker books. The colours are vibrant and there is a storage page for the stickers. Highly recommended.

An excellent field guide. It is complete with photos of the larvae and adult along with drawings to show important identification points. The only thing lacking is the season of adult flight.

For those who do not already own the superb field guide, here is a portable (and cheaper!) ring-bound version consisting of the original plates together with their brief facing text. In fact, this version includes one additional species. Covers almost all c900 species of "macro" moth of Britain and Ireland. The plates are quite simply stunning - not just for their wealth of observed detail, but also because of their intrinsic beauty.

I still prefer to have the original version, but I can imagine that this ring-bound edition will be very popular.

Chris Sharpe, 26 September 2007. ISBN: 0953139964

Take a trip to Africa - the landscape, the light, the players. This book takes you there, and you may not want to return.
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