Hissing Cockroaches

April 1, 2011

Gr 2-5-This series offers detailed information on pets ranging from uncommon to truly exotic. Although the tone of the writing can be condescending ("Let's learn what you need to do..."), a wealth of information is provided on caring for these creatures. Readers looking for details on history or life in the wild, however, will be largely disappointed. Long blocks of text are broken up by photographs and cartoons or sidebars, sometimes in awkward places. A sometimes-annotated list of websites includes general interest links specific to the pet, though some are personal sites or bad links. While these books are not ideal, they will do the trick for libraries requiring a larger variety of pet books.

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2011
Grades 2-4 It takes a special sort of kid to even entertain choosing a giant insect over, say, a puppy or a pony as a pet, and for those kids, this entry in the Far-Out and Unusual Pets series is just the thing to help them make their case before dubious parents. It first explains how hissing cockroaches are different from your garden-variety squashable kind and makes a fairly compelling argument for them as pets: theyll eat just about anything, and their freak-out potential for friends and siblings is through the roof. Other fascinating insightslike how a cockroach can live without its head but will eventually starve after a few weeksmight provide some temptation for experimentation but should still help advance the cause of hissing-cockroach ownership. Stock photos mostly show close-ups of the insects not doing a whole lot, but a few interspersed cartoon illustrations crank up the fun level. Some basic insect biology helps this book perform double duty as an entry-level science resource.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)