Richie’s Picks: INSECTARIUM
Richie Partington
Richie’s Picks: INSECTARIUM (Welcome to the Museum series) by Dave Goulson and Emily Carter, ill., Candlewick/Big Picture Press, May 2025, 112p., ISBN: 978-1-5362-4114-3
“Dragonfly, fly by my window
You and I still have a way to go
Don't know why you hang around my door
I don't live here any more
Since you've gone, I never know
I go on, but I miss you so”
– Paul McCartney (1973)
“I was born in a
fine old edition of Schiller
While I started life
in a private eye thriller…”
–opening lines of “Book Lice” from JOYFUL NOISE: POEMS FOR TWO VOICES by Paul Fleischman (1988)
“Thrips, Lice, Book Lice, and Bark Lice
These obscure groups of insects are much maligned, despite their tiny sizes. Their biting and feeding habits and their ability to damage crops and, in some cases, transmit diseases such as typhus mean they are often considered irritants or pests. However, of the thousands of species of thrips, lice, book lice, and bark lice many are harmless to humans and other animals and play important ecological roles in their natural habitats. For example, thrips are important pollinators, while book lice and bark lice help to recycle dead leaves.”
So begins the entry on this particular group of insects. The complete three-paragraph introduction to them is accompanied by a 9” x 13” full page illustration depicting blown-up images of six different species of thrips and lice against a black velvety background. Think of an imaginary museum case. The remainder of the oversized two-page spread is devoted to the key for the illustrations. Such as:
“Head louse
Pediculus humanus capitis
Length: Up to ⅛ inch/3 mm
A contender for the least popular insect, this species is found only on the scalps of humans, attaching its eggs to hair. Although this insect causes irritation, it does no serious harm.”
Like with Goldilocks, the details in the three dozen-plus entries making up this coffee table-sized piece of illustrated nonfiction are neither too few nor too many. Along with the attention-grabbing blown-up insect images, the details are just right for catching and holding the attention (horror, fascination) of nine- through fourteen year-olds.
The book, first published in Britain, contains a preface by the president of the Royal Entomological Society, and contains a wealth of conservation info in addition to the eye-catching lessons for budding entomologists.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com