Cricket in the Thicket: Poems about Bugs

Murray assembles nearly 30 poems about familiar insects, sometimes educational ("I carry little pods of air/ beneath each shiny wing," she writes about a water bug), sometimes providing an insect's-eye view of life ("I am not loved, not loved at all," sighs a cockroach, "I'm not like any other"). The balance of the poems are third-person descriptive: "Whizzing and whirling/ in fabulous flight./ Whooshing like rockets/ to tell us 'good night.' " Perhaps to amplify the comedy, a few poems assume that insects bother humans--understandable regarding the mosquito, more surprising in the case of the bumblebee: "Rumble, rumble, Bumblebee./ Don't you know you're bugging me?" To even the score, Murray also lobbies for unloved insects: "Let's Hear It for Dung Beetle!" Sweet's (Some Writer!) illustrations--with their graceful lines, luminous colors, and sly wit--delight throughout, offering delicious moments as a fly contemplates a tableful of Wayne Thibaud-like cakes and a walking stick stands among delicate twigs. Additional information about each insect is supplied on each page and in closing notes. Ages 6-10. Illustrator's agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (May)

Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 3-5--Bouncy little poems skitter across the illustrated pages as Murray celebrates bugs, from walking sticks to dung beetles. Her fruit flies -stage an invasion and vanish like snow,- her mosquitoes are -ready and eager,- and her grasshoppers are -built with precision and speed.- Sweet's graceful, cartoony watercolors capture the essence of the rhymes. Each poem is accompanied by a discreet fact box, while three additional pages of data lurk in the back of the book. This title is not as distinguished as, say, Paul Fleischman's Newbery winner Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices or Douglas Florian's handsome Insectlopedia: Poems and Paintings, but it stands delicately on multiple feet, chirpy as a cricket. VERDICT Sprightly, simple, and with a nice soupcon of information; a fine choice for large poetry collections.--Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.