The Book Shelf: From the Stratford Public Library

Dirty Rotten Bugs?
Arthropods Unite to Tell Their Side of the Story
by Gilles Bonotaux
45 pages
@ SPL: JP Bon

Bugs are dirty, disgusting, ugly, pestering, invasive and stinky…right? Or do they deserve a nicer, more respectful description than this? Are there some good things about bugs? Perhaps it’s time to let these “dirty rotten” – but fascinating – critters speak for themselves!

As this book reveals, there’s definitely more than one side to the insect story. For example, did you know that bugs are important food sources for many birds and animals, and that there are thousands and thousands of species of insects?

Did you realize that some bugs do smell, but for a good reason – it’s to make them seem less appetizing to predators. And have you noticed that some bugs are actually rather smart? Millipedes, for instance, curl up into a ball and play dead as a means of defence.

Young readers will learn many amazing facts about the insects that they often see in their own backyard each summer and about some exotic species as well.

Kids can’t help but be interested in bugs after reading this book! Packed with intriguing facts and visuals about a wide variety of insects, it also offers a small “bug glossary.”

** Recommended for ages 7 to 12 years of age.

An Octopus Has Deadly Spit
by Nicki Greenberg
88 pages
@ SPL: J 594.5 Gre

On a hot summer’s day, delve into the cool ocean water and investigate some inky but intriguing facts lurking inside the murky world of the octopus, the cuttlefish, the squid and the nautilus! These creatures form a group called “cephalopods” animals whose arms (which also serve as feet) grow out from their heads. Did you know that these creatures are everywhere in the world’s oceans?

Scientists have discovered that squids alone occupy more space on our planet than humans! Like insects, some of these creatures are smarter than we might think. Scientists think that octopuses are as smart as dogs. Each of the eight arms of an octopus has a “mini-brain” – a bundle of nerves that directs the arm to move in certain ways – that’s eight mini-brains per octopus! And octopuses can be very dangerous – they do in fact have deadly spit, and the giant Pacific octopus can lift ten times its own weight – a car, for example. Wow, there’s a lot to discover in our oceans!

An Octopus Has Deadly Spit is just one of an excellent, high-interest series of books for kids called It’s True! Other books in the series include Pigs Do Fly and We Came from Slime.

** Recommended for ages 8 to 12 years of age.

– Sally Hengeveld, librarian