befus's Full Review: Nic Bishop - Butterflies and Moths
Over the past several years, our family has read a lot of books about butterflies and moths. My little girl's fascination with these insects started early and has never really abated. We've had many favorites, and I keep thinking that one of these days we'll stop picking up new titles, especially since many children's books about butterflies contain similar kinds of information. But it's hard to stop when so many new and beautiful books on the subject keep coming out!
So it was that we could not resist Nic Bishop's Butterflies and Moths. This large size, glossy book of photographs captured us with its gorgeous cover photo of a tiger swallowtail butterfly, magnified to twice its actual size. We delighted in its delicately curbed proboscis, beautiful cream, gray, black and orange wing designs, furry body, and graceful movement toward detailed leaves and flowers. If the cover photo was this good, we reasoned the rest of the book would be beautiful too.
And how! Everything about this book is lovely, from the bright, glossy photographs, clearly the work of a dedicated and artistic professional, to the sometimes poetic reflections (full of accurate information) presented on each page. The pages with text are themselves beautiful and varied colors that often complement the colors highlighted in the photographs on the facing pages, lending a sense of careful design to the overall presentation. What a pleasure to read this book together, and to turn the gorgeous pages.
Larger Than Life
Many of the butterflies and moths are shown magnified. Just how magnified is presented in small type underneath the photo caption. Sometimes the photos are very enlarged, like the luna moth shown five times its actual size. This not only makes the pictures fascinating, but helps supplement the information presented.
For instance, when describing the differences (sometimes subtle) between butterflies and moths, the text informs us that "Moths are less colorful than butterflies, and many rest with their wings open, not closed. Moths also often have fatter bodies, covered with furry hairs." I'm sure we've read this information many times in other books and magazines, but this is the first time we've ever had an accompanying photo that really shows us, in amazing detail, the "furry hairs." The luna moth's "feathery antennae" are also shown in such detail that you can fully understand why they're described as "feathery." Monarch caterpillars, as tiny as commas when they first hatch, are shown 45 times their actual size! You can actually see one chomping on its egg case!
Many of these amazing pictures just call forth awe. These creatures, so small and often so fleeting as they fly or crawl by, are wonderfully and awesomely designed. When you're really given the gift of the opportunity to look at the golden brown spikes of a silkworm moth caterpillar, or the small orange spiracles (breathing holes) on the bright green body of another caterpillar, you will be just amazed by the precision and beauty of their bodies. Some of them may also inspire giggles: seen close up, some of these creatures can look like funny aliens!
A book like this is hard to categorize with an appropriate age range. I'd say the information given (and the level at which it's written) is probably targeted for children in the 7-10 age range, but people on either side of that age spectrum will find much to enjoy here. Younger children will just want to sit and marvel, but older children and adults may find that paying such close attention to these creatures inspires them to poetry or other creativity. Because the photos are so clear and close-up, many of them could inspire drawing sessions as well!
A lot of the information presented in Butterflies and Moths is "standard fare" for butterfly books: descriptions of the butterfly's life cycle, molting, camouflage, eating habits, etc. We often found the language fresh and creative though. For instance, when the author describes some of the way caterpillars avoid predators, he writes: "But a caterpillar is not always easy to catch. Many are green or brown, so they are hard to spot. Some use their silk to sew leaves into little shelters to hide in. Others leap away on silk threads like bungee jumpers when they are scared."
In addition to well-written descriptions like these, Bishop adds some interesting facts about particular insects, with pictures to accompany them. The most fascinating of these is his photo and caption of a rain forest caterpillar that "twists its body around and puffs up its front end to look like a poisonous snake." You'd have to see it to believe it, but every single one of us (mom, dad and daughter) was sure this was a photo of a snake when we first saw it. The caption further directs you to look closely at the "snake eyes" to notice that they're not real eyes, but markings on the caterpillar's skin. Don't miss Bishop's story, recounted in the final two pages of the book (a sort of author's note about his work as an insect photographer) about how he managed to capture this very rare photo -- and how long it took him to do so!
Butterflies and Moths, while in some ways a book with familiar information about a subject of typical interest to many children, is anything but typical. Its incredible photos, many of them magnified to show amazing detail, its beautiful overall design, and its well-written text puts this book head and shoulders (or perhaps I should say wings and legs!) above most books on the subject.
~befus, 2009
Butterflies and Moths by Nic Bishop Scholastic, 2009 ISBN 0439877571
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