Bug Off!

June 14, 2019

PreS-Gr 1-Maude is enthralled by fireflies, which she had never noticed before her family moved to the country. She sees a poster for the "Bug of the Month" club run by a neighborhood girl and is excited to join. In order to gain entry to the group, she prepares and delivers the required speech about her chosen bug and readers learn firefly facts along with her. The group leader, Louise, is appalled that Maude doesn't know the difference between a bug and an insect. She is so disgusted that Maude doesn't realize a lightning bug is not even a bug but a beetle; she abruptly tells Maude: "Time for you to bug off." A couple of months later, Louise learns the other club members liked Maude's speech and have rallied around her and her love of fireflies. Louise finally relents, and the two girls acknowledge they can learn from each other. A note from the author appears at the book's conclusion along with resources that will give readers more information on the insect. VERDICT A useful selection in classrooms as well as a discussion starter at storytime.-Maryann H. Owen, Oak Creek Public Library WI

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2019
Lessons about friendship and inclusion complement lessons about insects and bugs when Maude tries to join Louise's Bug-of-the-Month Club. Maude is new to country life, and she is fascinated and delighted to see her first lightning bugs. "They sparkle like little firecrackers," she says, "but without all the noise." Maude is undaunted when she learns that the first step to auditioning for neighbor Louise's club is to prepare a speech about a bug. She happily researches fireflies at the library and presents a well-researched speech to Louise and the other club members. From the start, only Louise acts cool toward Maude. That coolness evolves into hostility when Louise insists that the other members list all the reasons that fireflies are not technically bugs...and then summarily releases Maude's 11 coddled fireflies. Sweet-natured Maude channels her anger at Louise into an inspired campaign to protect fireflies, and by the end of the story, even Louise has become an ardent champion of the cause. This is more an illustrated story than a picture book, with a text chock full of fascinating facts about fireflies and how to help them. The cartoonlike children exhibit various skin tones, hair types, and eye shapes, and they are set against uncluttered, pleasant outdoor backgrounds; Maude has beige skin and extremely curly brown hair while Louise's skin is pale and her blonde hair is straight. Both text and art evoke the best of Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts," with a 21st-century, environmentalist twist. (Picture book. 5-9)

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