Caterpillars: What Will I Be When I Get to Be Me?: Toon Level 1 (Giggle and Learn)

by Kevin McCloskey (Author)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

A Best Kids' Book Awards winner

"You've got company, Dr. Seuss."--Good Housekeeping

Is it a worm? Is it a snake? No! It's a caterpillar...

...and it's on its way to one of the most magical transformations in the insect world, from a crawling digestive tube to a fluttering glasswing, luna moth, or monarch on its journey across thousands-of-miles.

In the latest addition to KEVIN MCCLOSKEY's beloved Giggle and Learn series, young readers will explore how caterpillars morph into the many different moths and butterflies that help pollinate our world. Growing up is scary, but caterpillars can lead the way!

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Kirkus

 An animated entry about a common backyard miracle.

ALA/Booklist

 It is certain to appeal to teachers of related STEAM programs and young readers interested in a deep dive into caterpillar development.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2--The sixth entry in McCloskey's "Giggle and Learn" series, this is a collection of concise, creative science comics that explore the lives of small, everyday animals. Though the butterfly/moth life cycle is a familiar pedagogical tool, McCloskey's emphasis on the caterpillar stage offers a fresh angle--including the contents of a caterpillar's first meal (they voraciously consume their own egg), their prime methods of movement (silk strands help them move through the trees, and prolegs allow them to hang upside down), and comparisons of a caterpillar's appearance with their butterfly counterpart. Young children, a girl in blue overalls who presents as Black and a boy in a hiking vest who presents as white with red hair, serve as amateur entomologists, explaining each element of the caterpillar's development in a friendly, intentional tone. Caterpillars chime in from the corners of pages with lightly comedic observations. To wit, a caterpillar emits a large burp on the book's title page. McCloskey has an artistic gift for presenting precisely painted scientific illustrations to young children in an unpretentious way, and an unpaneled, intuitive flow from image to image guides the book's subtle narrative logic. This title may appeal to a variety of reading levels, through more advanced narrative text, simpler vocabulary used in caterpillar conversations, and visual elements that clearly document the caterpillar's life cycle without words. VERDICT A multilayered, richly illustrated examination of a familiar crawling creature, yielding new pleasures and perspectives with each turn of the page. A great curricular tie-in for elementary students.--Emilia Packard

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"A multilayered, richly illustrated examination of a familiar crawling creature, yielding new pleasures and perspectives with each turn of the page."School Library Journal

"A small, snug, humorous work that uses comic-book conventions to get its nonfiction ideas across." —WSJ

"[McCloskey's] endearing cartoon images of various kinds of caterpillars will give young readers good cause to join two budding investigators [...] in learning about eggs, instars (or stages), anatomy, cocoons, and chrysalises on the way to witnessing in sequential views a set of marvelous transformations."—Kirkus Reviews
Kevin McCloskey
Kevin McCloskey, who teaches illustration at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, learned about pigeons from Vinnie Torre, one of Hoboken's last pigeon racers. He dedicated this book to his children, even if his daughter is a little skittish on the subject since a flock of pigeons descended on the family during a visit to London's Trafalgar Square. He says he considered painting the pictures here on roofing material (because pigeons flock to roofs) but settled instead for painting on a pigeon-blue Fabriano paper, the kind used by Picasso.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781662665080
Lexile Measure
540
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Toon Books
Publication date
July 11, 2023
Series
Giggle and Learn
BISAC categories
JNF051150 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Zoology
JNF003250 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Animals | Butterflies, Moths & Caterpillars
JNF062030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Comics & Graphic Novels | Science & Nature
Library of Congress categories
Life cycles
Caterpillars
Morphology
A Best Kids' Book Awards winner

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