Beetle Bop (review)

Beetle-centered couplets informally catalogue a raft of buzzing bugs, focusing on insect attributes that youngsters will readily recognize ("Blue beetles, black beetles/ hide-in-the-crack beetles") or that make for particularly sonorous reading aloud ("Buzzing beetles, humming beetles,/ steadily drumming beetles"). The text is somewhat slight, but it's festive and deliciously noisy, and it's a subject sure to resonate with audiences who are often at eye level with such creatures. Fleming's fiber art, in its usual rich hues and textures, sticks to fairly strict natural history rather than opting for personification; the illustrations gain sympathy for their subjects by often putting the beetles in clear jeopardy from predators, but they're otherwise presented in magnificent realism, with camouflage eyes peering out at the viewer even more intently than real ones. Also realistic is the "where's beetle?" element of some of the spreads, wherein kids will need to look sharp to find the hidden bugs, and the closeup views will arouse the same fascination and repulsion as a real creepy-crawly. This could be pulled out to good use in any surprise beetly situation or as a preparation for a viewing of the local wildlife.