Wednesday 12 October 2022

Book Review: "Bugs" by J.R. Tiedemann

Kindle:
Paperback:
⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

If you've read any of my other book reviews, you'll already know that I start them all off by saying that every book starts with the full five stars and that I'm always hopeful that they will all still be in place by the time I finish reading.  You'll also know that I'm not averse about knocking of star for copyright/trademark usage potentially without permission.  If there's a note either at the start or end of the book that says the author has gained approval, then the star immediately regains its rightful place, but if there's no acknowledgement or anything like that then the star stays off.

Let's get going with the review now, shall we?

It's 180 pages long, so hopefully I'll get it finished and reviewed before I head to bed tonight.  I hope there isn't anything gross in it otherwise I'll lose whatever is in my stomach lol

I'm on page 1 and I'm already learning stuff... I feel sorry for the poor male ants though - that's a very short life expectancy by anyone's standards!

I'm not sure which age this book was written for, but I'm guessing it's maybe end of Primary school kinda age?  It's friendly and accessible, but I'm not sure that the reader would understand the reason for footnotes and how to read them, so maybe it's for lower Secondary school aged children?

Those poor ants!  The author has got it spot on though!

Flies next.

OMG!  I'm learning about flies' sense of smell now and it's amazing me how powerful it is!

Ewww!  That's so gross!  I understand why people wave flies away from food now though - it's not just because they are an insect, it's because of what they do!

This is a truly gross book that children will love and I'm learning so much about the insects that also inhabit our world!

This review is getting long again so like with all longer books, I'll stop commenting on each chapter/insect now.

I'm not sure a UK child would understand what a few of these insects are and it was obviously written for the American audience 'cos of how mum is spelt which could be confusing to the young audience this book is intended for so the first star is coming off unfortunately.

Urgh, spiders next, which is already sending a nervous shiver down my spine.

That's a relief... I'm up to little buzzy bees now.  I made friends with a bee in our back yard a couple of years ago and they are now my favourite insect, so it'll be interesting to see what the author has to say about my little friends!

It's good that mating is included, but I'm not so sure it should be quite so graphic for children who are maybe only just learning about human reproduction, let alone insects too!

OK, I've finished reading now and it's a good, well-written, informative book but I'm wondering if maybe the author should have thought about certain things a bit differently and rephrased certain parts so that it didn't scare or confuse such young readers.  It's a good book, but needs to be read by an adult before it's given to a child I reckon.

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