As you might have noticed from the recent posts about roly-polies and nighttime creature hunts, we’re big into getting to know our local backyard bugs at the moment. It seems like a good time to share a resource we’ve found helpful in our research and learning, The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs.
The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs is written by the sister-and-brother author/photographer team who also brought us The Lifecycles of Butterflies (which we haven’t read but looks wonderful). These two got their hands dirty while researching this book, literally turning over rocks to find minibeasts, climbing trees to seek out caterpillars to raise and release, and scanning the world from a bugs’-eye view to bring us amazing field notes and photos of the insect world.
This award-winning guide to backyard bugs introduces readers to many of the most common critters in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But really it’s the photographs that make this book so incredible. Each creature is featured in its natural setting, and many are shown progressing through all of the various stages of their life cycles.
While there is no suggested age range for The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs, both of The Explorers (at 5 and 9) enjoy it – and me, too! The younger loves all the photographs; the older all the sciency stuff and I’m not too grossed out by any of it.
What’s inside: This 144-page guidebook to backyard bugs features hundreds of stunning photographs combined with expert information. In it, you’ll find:
- An overview of life cycles (of seasons, plants, soil, and insects and spiders)
- Detailed descriptions of some of the more common and easy-to-find garden dwellers, including ants, ladybugs, bees, cicadas, aphids, butterflies and moths
- Stunning, close-up photographs of each stage of the life cycle
- Comparison guide of each stage of a bug’s life cycle
- List of top host and nectar plants
- Informative, kid-friendly glossary of key terms
What you’ll like:
- Tons of color photographs! When you’re trying to identify a new-to-you critter, quality, up-close photographs are key. This book is full of ’em.
- The price – it sells on Amazon for less than $15.
- It’s kid friendly, with short, digestable snippets of information, photos and lots of interesting facts.
What you might wish was different:
- It’s not all-inclusive and some of the critters we see in our backyard aren’t included. And remember, the backyard bugs in this book are those found in North America.
Note: I purchased a copy of The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs for personal use. I received no compensation of any kind to share my honest review with you here.
