Posts Tagged book clubs

STEM Tuesday– Entomology– Writing Tips & Resources

 

 

 

Little and Literary

When most people see a book about Onthophagus acumiantus, they might give it a pass. A book about a cheetah, a chipmunk, a chimpanzee, sure, but a beetle? And, written by a scientist? Dry, dense, info dump. No thanks.

But that bias was is old-fashioned. Come on people, this is 2023. The fact-filled books of today offer so much more.

Beetle Battles: One Scientists Journey of Adventure and Discovery by entomologist Doug Emlen could change a few minds. Let’s take a look at how this 170-page about a beetle the size of a pencil eraser could change minds about what a science book can be.

There’s nothing at all wrong about an insect book that sticks to the data—one that presents quantitative data for those who are looking—but what about those readers who aren’t quite so into numbers and charts? How can they enjoy science?

Let’s have story! Literary language! And a “So what?” that has implications about the next world war!

A Look at Language

Emlen starts his story:

Prologue: A Horrible, Hot Night

The South American country of Ecuador straddles the Andes mountain chain like a Band-Aid stretched over a knuckle. The capital city of Quito sits high on the knuckle (9,300 feet elevation), and a braided chain of bus routes threads north-south along the rugged mountain backbone, weaving in between towering volcanic peaks and a string of little cities connecting Quito with Columbian to the north and Peru to the south. The country plunges downward on either side of this backbone, steep mountainsides covered with cloud forest dropping to the scorching Pacific coast to the west, and into the sweltering Amazon basin to the east.

Can you picture it? We are not yet even in a scene—this is just the prologue—but already, I know that this writer is going to paint this story in such a way that I can feel it. I re-read the paragraph, seeking out how he did that. To me, the things that drew me in were:

  • Verbs: straddles, stretched, sits, threads, weaving, connecting, plunges, covered, dropping. I thought I’d just pick out the vivid ones, but discovered every single one was.
  • Descriptors: horrible, high, braided, rugged, towering, steep, scorching, sweltering. Not a weak one in the bunch. Bonus: all that alliteration! Someone was having fun with their writing.
  • Nouns: chain, Band-Aid, knuckle, backbone, peaks, string, cloud forest, basin. Writing it out this way, I noticed how many of those nouns create layered analogies. Not a simple one-and-done simile, but a Band-Aid (analogy anyone can relate to) over a knuckle and the city Emlen wants us to focus on is high on that knuckle. What other layered analogies can you find?

A Look at Structure

Emlen gives us 24 short chapters organized into 6 parts. The narrative, in the main text, is supported by lengthy, expository insets. These insets are not ancillary, they significant enough to each have a place in the table of contents. In addition, Emlen give us 4 journal entries—what a cool way to experience research right alongside the expert!

A Look at Approach

Emlen turns “science book” stereotype on its head by writing in first person. Sure, there are middle grade books on science topics that follow the story of a scientist (see the brilliant works of Sy Montgomery, Mary Kay Carson, Patricia Newman and many more), but this is first person. This is “I was going to solve a mystery.” “I had that one lingering problem . . . “ “I realized with a thrill. . .  This is scientific process where we are inside the mind of the scientist.

And this first person approach also gave the opportunity to turn the “scientist” stereotype on its head. Emlen intentional shows us his emotions throughout. Yes this book is about a beetle, about weapons and evolution and the human arms race, but the story is how one person followed a creature, stumbled through a long line of questions, and then tumbled onto a stage in front of the big wigs of the FBI, DOD and CIA.  His message: if we want to overcome the number one threat to our country’s security we better start looking at the horns of itty bitty beetles.

Dry, dense info dump? Nope. Today, there’s nonfiction to lure in every kind of reader out there!

Heather L. Montgomery writes about itty bitty bugs too. She’s had a ton of fun writing first person narrative middle grade books about poop and roadkill among other unsettling topics. Be on the look out for Sick! The Twists and Turns Behind Animal Germs due out February 2024! www.HeatherLMontgomery.com 


The O.O.L.F Files

Curious about inset/sidebar/call out terminology? Check out https://thebookcouple.com/2018/01/01/additional-typographical-features-of-a-book/ .

STEM Tuesday– Entomology– In the Classroom

 

When you study entomology, you see you’re not just looking at bugs and their behaviors (also fascinating enough) . . . you discover the people who spent their lives studying them, how insects adapted to endure and thrive, and the ways insects impact our lives. Here are some ways to challenge students to explore lives of insects and the people who study them.

 

Insects and Arachnids (Field Guides) by Carla Mooney

After defining each and their roles in nature, vivid photographs accompany descriptions and fascinating side bars, as well as “How to Spot” and “Fun Facts” sections for each insect, spider, and other critter. Easily browsable, it is divided into the categories: True Flies, Beetles, Wasps and Bees, Ants, Moths and Butterflies, True Bugs, Spiders, Ticks and Mites, and Scorpions.

Student Activity

Make an Insect Identification Journal. Use this field guide out in the field and record any identified insects in your journal. Separate your entries by date and take photos or make sketches of the insects you see. Record the weather, the area where seen, and the insect’s common and scientific names.

 

 

 

Naturalist: A Graphic Adaptation by Edward O. Wilson and Jim Ottaviani, illustrated by C.M. Butzer

E.O. Wilson is an insatiably curious biologist, well-known for his work on ants and insect societies. He reminisces about childhood expeditions to the creek with friends, and an effort to collect and study “all the ants in a vacant lot.” Ants may be small, but examining their societies led Wilson to ask big questions about social structure, genetics, and biogeography.

Student Activity

A Day in an Ant’s Life Comic. Craft a three-panel comic about an ant’s life. Think of a short narrative arc that can stretch ver three panels. Write the text of your comic. Sketch the panels to go along with your text. Revise after getting some feedback, and then color an complete your comic. (Extra points if you can fit in an interesting adaptation!)

 

Buzzing with Questions: the Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington, illustrated by Theodore Taylor III

At a time when most colleges didn’t accept black students, Charles Turner went to study zoology. He had a particular fondness for small creatures, insects, and used them to help answer big questions: how do ants find their way home? Can an insect solve a maze? Can bees learn to identify colors? This book will inspire emerging entomologists of all ages.

Student Activity

Ask Like a Scientist. Charles Henry Turner asked lots of questions. All scientists do. See what questions you have about an ant’s body. Find a photo of an interesting kind of ant. Then study its body. Does it have strong jaws? Does it have little hairs? Is it tiny or huge? Label the parts that make you wonder with a question you want answered. Then do some research to find answers to add.

 

Moth: An Evolution Story by Isabel Thomas, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus

One of the most remarkable stories about natural selection is that of how the pepper moth adapted to the sooty pollution of the industrial revolution. Evolution is a big concept, hard to grasp sometimes, and this book does a marvelous job telling – and showing – how environmental changes affect insect populations. A picture book for the 8-10 crowd.

Student Activity

The Perfect Insect. Insects have evolved in all kinds of ways—some fly, some hop, some squirm and some swim. They can be iridescent and delicate or brown and solid. These colors, forms, and behaviors are all adaptations that occurred over time to help them survive. Design your perfect insect. How will it move? What colors will it have? How will its features help it survive in its habitat? Figure out all the parts of your insect and then draw it.Don’t forget to give it a name, too!

 


Karen Latchana Kenney loves to write books about animals, and looks for them wherever she goes—from leafcutter ants trailing through the Amazon rain forest in Guyana, where she was born, to puffins in cliff-side burrows on the Irish island of Skellig Michael. She especially enjoys creating books about nature, biodiversity, conservation, and groundbreaking scientific discoveries—but also writes about civil rights, astronomy, historical moments, and many other topics. Visit her at https://latchanakenney.wordpress.com

STEM Tuesday– Entomology– Book List

There are more than a million different kinds of insects living on our planet. They live in rivers and deserts and forests and … even our homes … and they outnumber us. So it only makes sense that we get to know them better.

Meet the Bugs:

Cover image og grasshopper and a bee

Buzzkill: A Wild Wander Through The Weird And Threatened World Of Bugs by Brenna Maloney

Reading this book is like listening to a friend tell stories. For example, there’s the time Brenna bought caterpillars watched their transformation into adult painted lady butterflies. She gives her personal take on insect defenses (getting stung), wrangling ants into an ant farm, and more.

Cover image with a number of bugs and a praying mantis

1,000 Facts about Insects by Nancy Honovich

This browsable book is perfect for the kid who wants to know cool insect facts without reading an entire book. Each spread focuses on some aspect of the insect world, from life cycles to senses to defenses. There are facts about migration, endangered insects, and conservation, about light-makers and love bugs, 50 fluttering facts about butterflies and lots, lots more.

Cover image with butterfly and bees flying and a ladybug and grasshopper peeking from the grass.

Encyclopedia of Insects: An Illustrated Guide to Nature’s Most Weird and Wonderful Bugs by Jules Howard, illustrated by Miranda Zimmerman

After some basic information and a list of some amazing insect feats, the book groups over three hundred insects by their orders. It provides the common and scientific names, size, diet, location and interesting details for some colorfully painted familiar and freaky insects from around the world. You’ll also find information on arthropods and invertebrates and a handy guide to determine whether you are an insect.

Cover image with a moth flying at night.

Moth: An Evolution Story by Isabel Thomas, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus

One of the most remarkable stories about natural selection is that of how the pepper moth adapted to the sooty pollution of the industrial revolution. Evolution is a big concept, hard to grasp sometimes, and this book does a marvelous job telling – and showing – how environmental changes affect insect populations. A picture book for the 8-10 crowd.

Cover image with a bumblebee

The Beekeepers : How Humans Changed the World of Bumble Bees by Dana L. Church

Bumble bees are a vital part of our ecosystems, pollinating crops that feed people and wildflowers and trees that feed wildlife. They are so successful, that people have commercialized their breeding, shipping bumble bee colonies to greenhouse growers across state – and country – borders. But what happens when commercially raised bumble bees escape the greenhouse and begin nesting in the wild?

For another book about bees, check out our interview on Where have all the bees gone? : pollinators in crisis, by Rebecca E. Hirsch from a couple years ago.

Cover image with a spider, centipede, ants and fly

Wicked Bugs: The Meanest, Deadliest, Grossest Bugs on Earth by Amy Stewart

Engaging and terrifying, this book explores the life cycles, habits, and dangers of forty-eight of the deadliest, dangerous, unwelcome, destructive, painful, and seriously threatening insects on earth – plus a few spiders, worms, and scorpions for good measure. It includes case studies of recent and historic instances of attacks or bites from these insects and any known treatments. Not for the faint of heart, though it is a good resource for identification, insect transmitted diseases and pest control.

Meet The Folks Who Study Them (Entomologists):

Cover image with a spotted beetle.

Beetle Busters: A Rogue Insect and the People who Track It (Scientists in the Field) by Loree Griffin Burns, photos by Ellen Harasimonwicz

The Asian Longhorn Beetle came to the US as a stowaway, tucked into wood used to ship products. With no natural enemies to control its spread, the beetle now infests trees from Massachusetts to New York and into Ohio, with the potential to cause more damage than Dutch elm disease, chestnut blight and spongy moths combined. This book follows the scientists tracking the insect and trying to save the forests.

Cover image with a boy lying in the grass with a magnifying glass looking at bugs.

Buzzing with Questions: the inquisitive mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington, illustrated by Theodore Taylor III

At a time when most colleges didn’t accept black students, Charles Turner went to study zoology. He had a particular fondness for small creatures, insects, and used them to help answer big questions: how do ants find their way home? Can an insect solve a maze? Can bees learn to identify colors? This book will inspire emerging entomologists of all ages.

Cover image with two beetles facing off with large pincers.

Beetle Battles: One Scientist’s Journey of Adventure and Discovery by Douglas J. Emlen

Doug Emlen studies antlers, horns, tusks… weapons that just happen to belong to dung beetles. The cool thing about beetle weapons, he says, is their diversity: some are stubby, some long and slender, some like crowbars, some like sabers. Emlen shows readers how science happens in the field, from designing experiments and collecting data to rethinking the experiments (when they don’t work), and doing it all again.

Cover image of man using tweezers to examine ants climbing up a branch.

Naturalist: A Graphic Adaptation by Edward O. Wilson and Jim Ottaviani, illustrated by C.M. Butzer

E.O. Wilson is an insatiably curious biologist, well-known for his work on ants and insect societies. He reminisces about childhood expeditions to the creek with friends, and an effort to collect and study “all the ants in a vacant lot.” Ants may be small, but examining their societies led Wilson to ask big questions about social structure, genetics, and biogeography.

Cover image collage of scientists using bugs to solve crimes,

The Forensic Entomologist by Diane Yancey

A fascinating examination of the history (a collection of cases through time) and the numerous insects that have solved both murders and trafficking cases. It offers a look at the education and procedures for forensic entomologists and medical examiners, a detailed exploration of how bugs illuminate the time of death, location of death, DNA of victim, and neglect, and explores the factors that can cause mistakes and future forensic applications.

Bug Field Guides and Activities:

Cover image with a beetle, ladybug, caterpillar, and bee larvae.

Ultimate Explorer Field Guide: Insects (National Geographic) by Libby Romero

Divided into two sections – Incomplete Metamorphosis and Complete Metamorphosis – this book is loaded with information, photos, jokes, challenges, and interesting behaviors or facts, as well as any bite, sting, or chemical reaction danger an insect poses. Interspersed throughout are double spread “Insect Reports” on wings, bug vs. insect, invasive species, and much more. The introductory information, Quick Id Guide, glossary, and additional resources round out this engaging insect guide.

Insects and Arachnids (Field Guides) by Carla Mooney

After defining each and their roles in nature, vivid photographs accompany descriptions and fascinating side bars, as well as “How to Spot” and “Fun Facts” sections for each insect, spider, and other critter. Easily browsable, it is divided into the categories: True Flies, Beetles, Wasps and Bees, Ants, Moths and Butterflies, True Bugs, Spiders, Ticks and Mites, and Scorpions.

Cover image of bugs visiting a science fair.

Bug Science: 20 Projects and Experiments About Arthropods: Insects, Arachnids, Algae, Worms, and Other Small Creatures by Karen Romano Young, illustrated by David Goldin

A tongue and cheek presentation, full of cartoonish illustrations, guides kids though the scientific process (concept, question, plan, materials, procedure, and recording of data) necessary to perform experiments with flies, ants, butterflies, fleas, spiders, and other creatures.


This month’s STEM Tuesday book list was prepared by:

Sue Heavenrich examines fungi

Sue Heavenrich, who writes about science for children and their families on topics ranging from space to backyard ecology. Bees, flies, squirrel behavior—things she observes in her neighborhood and around her home—inspire her writing. Her most recent book is Funky Fungi (with Alisha Gabriel). Visit her at www.sueheavenrich.com.

Author photo of Maria and pink roses.

Maria Marshall, a children’s author, blogger, and poet who is passionate about making nature and reading fun for children. When not writing, critiquing, or reading, she watches birds, travels the world, bakes, and hikes. Visit her at www.mariacmarshall.com.