Roberto: The Insect Architect

by Nina Laden (Author)

Roberto: The Insect Architect
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
Roberto always has wanted to be an architect. Discouraged by his family and friends, he follows his dream to the big city. With stunning collage illustrations and witty text, "Roberto" brings to life a funny, inspirational story that can encourage readers of any age to build their dreams. Full-color illustrations.
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$7.99

Publishers Weekly

This good-natured tale, whose striking collages incorporate wood products and city photographs, introduces a termite who "went against the grain.... Roberto didn't eat his food. He played with it." While other termites picnic on "wood chips" and shotgun shacks, Roberto yearns to build with boards. He also exhibits a philanthropic streak. His first project is a neighborhood for homeless bugs, including a fireproof stone dwelling for a ladybug whose first house, per the nursery rhyme, burned down. Laden (When Pigasso Met Mootisse) wittily imagines a termite with a social conscience, one who ensures that bedbugs have "their very own beds." She incorporates woodworking tools into her bug-themed spreads and creates furniture from carefully cropped pieces of cork and veneer. Ant-like Roberto hunches over a mahogany-brown drafting table, busily drawing blueprints for a milk-carton shelter and a conical hive with neat circular windows. Even if children don't get the gags about Hank Floyd Mite (seated at a Guggenheim-shaped desk with a sketch of Fallingwater) and Fleas Van Der Rohe, nonstop insect quips and humorous bug house illustrations keep this book buzzing along. Ages 2-6. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.
Nina Laden
Nina Laden grew up in the New York City area. The daughter of two artists, she studied illustration at Syracuse University. She is the author and illustrator of The Night I Followed the Dog, also published by Chronicle Books.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781452156460
Lexile Measure
630
Guided Reading Level
O
Publisher
Chronicle Books
Publication date
August 09, 2016
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV002140 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Insects, Spiders, etc.
JUV003000 - Juvenile Fiction | Art & Architecture
JUV039120 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Prejudice & Racism
Library of Congress categories
Termites
Architects

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