What's for Dinner?

Next week is Thanksgiving, and that’s got me thinking about food! Turns out I’m not the only one thinking about food …and it also turns out that I am omnivorous! Here’s a pair of books that explore animals and their eating habits. 

themes: animals, food chains, nonfiction

This is Not My Lunchbox 

by Jennifer Dupuis; illus. by Carol Schwartz 

32 pages; ages 4-8

Tilbury House Publishers, 2024

The book opens with a child camping in the forest. The tent is up, and he’s searching in his backpack for something.

Time to eat. Here is my red lunch box. What have you packed for me today?

Carpenter ants? Beetles? Spiders? Not MY lunch! But it’s the perfect lunch for a downy woodpecker. In each spread, the boy opens a lunchbox to discover all kinds of things that he Absolutely, Positively Would NOT eat! But the animals in the forest – from mouse to mantid to moose – would, because that’s what they normally eat. Finally, FINALLY!, he opens a lunchbox with yummy people food.

What I like about this book: I love the way this book introduces animals and their diets. I love that each lunchbox is a different color. And I really love that a diversity of animals are invited to the table, from bugs to birds, foxes and frogs. Back matter challenges kids to match pictures of the animals with their eating habits: herbivore, carnivore, omnivore. 

Menus for Meerkats and Other Hungry Animals 

by Ben Hoare; illus by Hui Skipp 

48 pages; ages 6-10

‎Kane Miller, 2024

Every animal has to eat … But what is food, exactly?

The first page introduces readers to the importance of food: animals need to eat to keep their bodies working, to grow, to look after their young. There’s a quick explanation of what herbivores are, and carnivores, and omnivores – and even a brief mention that some animals are Very Fussy eaters! And then an invitation to see what’s on the menu for a ten wild creatures.

What I like about this book: I like how the book is structured, introducing each animal with a menu page. Each menu comes with a note; for meerkats it includes a warning that some of their food fights back. The menu is arranged with Main Course on the left page (insects, grubs, scorpions, spiders) and Sides and Drinks on the right. There’s also a map showing where the animal lives. The spread following the menu tells more about the animal and its place in the food web: what it eats – and what eats them! In addition to meerkats, there are macaws, grizzly bears, white sharks, koalas, dung beetles, orangutans, Indian cobras, blue whales, and lions. A table of contents, glossary, and index help make this a useful reference book. 

Beyond the Books:

What’s your favorite animal? It could be a bird, mammal, insect, amphibian, reptile, or fish. Make a list of all the things it eats. Draw a menu or a lunchbox for that animal and put in its favorite foods.

How does your favorite animal fit into the food web? Do any animals eat it? Make a chart or drawing to show what you learn.

What's in YOUR lunchbox? If you’re like me, you might be thinking about Thanksgiving right now… draw a menu for your feast. Or, draw a lunchbox showing what you usually eat for lunch.

Ask an adult to help you make something that you like to eat. Maybe it’s a cheese and pickle sandwich, or maybe it’s pancakes.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

There's no lack of animal books!

 I am still dredging up books from the bottom of my book basket! Here are two wonderful picture books about animals that were published last year.

theme: animals, ecology, cumulative story

Kind, A call to care for every creature

By Jess McGeachin

32 pages; ages 3-7

Kane Miller EDC Publishing, 2023

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, given the title, “Kind.” And what did “a call to care” mean? I almost didn’t pick it for review, but I’m glad I did – what a remarkable book. Here’s the first few lines:

In this book you’ll find

Many kinds of things

Some have slippery scales

Some have feathered wings

But kind is more than type

Kind is how to care

For creatures that you meet

And places that we share

On each spread, illustrations depict the diversity of creatures in a group: butterflies, spiders, snakes, penguins. Short verses remind us to be kind to these animals, and at the end remind us to care for our planet and ourselves. 

What I like about this book: What a great resource for exploring similarities and differences within a type of animals. Take butterflies for example. Some are large, with thick bodies while others are tiny. And who knew that there are so many different kinds of frogs! In addition to appreciating the biodiversity of life around us, this book shares a great SEL message. It reminds us to treat those that live around us –  no matter how they look or sound, no matter how many legs or wings they have – with kindness. And it does all of that that using lovely, lyrical language.

Creep, Leap, Crunch! A Food Chain Story      

by Jody Jensen Shaffer; illus. by Christopher Silas Neal 

48 pages; ages 4-8

‎Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2023

There was a blue sky with a bright shining sun, a glorious, life-giving, fiery sun. The day had begun.

We see trees, and plants, and there – right there – is a cricket nibbling sweet grass. A mouse sees the cricket and pounces, because nothing tastes better for breakfast than a crunchy cricket. A milk snake swallows the mouse that gobbled the cricket that nibbled the grass… you can see how this is going, right?

What I like about this book: I like the cumulative structure for a food chain story. I also like that in this story, there’s not a 100-percent chance of catching the food you pounce on. The cricket is too fast for the mouse that, in turn, evades the snake, and so on. Truth is, hunting is hard and sometimes the hunter misses its prey. There is also back matter – an illustrated glossary explaining what a food chain is, more about the setting of this tale (a temperate deciduous forest), and a bit about each of the animals featured.

One more thing I like about this book is … what it’s wearing underneath the dust jacket. The case cover for most of the books on my shelves wears the same illustration as the dust jacket. But every now and then I peek under the jacket and find a surprise. You can find out more about book “undies” here – and they even give out awards! 

Beyond the Books:

Get to know the biodiversity in your neighborhood. How many kinds of frogs live around you? What about birds and butterflies? How about trees? Maybe draw a picture of all of the different kinds you see.

What can you do to be kind to the environment where you live?

What sort of food chains might you find in your area? Look for animals that eat plants, and find out what eats them. See if you can create a chain of hungry animals that live around you.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publisher (KIND) and Blue Slip Media (CREEP, LEAP, CRUNCH).

Food, Glorious Food!

Today I offer a banquet of books to feast your eyes on while contemplating leftovers…  The Themes are: food, animals, cooking

The Sun Shines on the Jungle
by Michael Slack
board book; ages 3-5
‎Candlewick, 2022

The sun shines on the jungle.
Plants grow, reaching for the sun.

And then the munching begins. Beetles eat the leaves. Spiders eat the beetles. And before you know it you’ve got a full-fledged food chain on your hands!

What I like about this book: It is deceptively simple. Simple text with lovely illustrations showing one thing eating another. It’s not until you’re four spreads in that you begin to think: Hey! That animal ate the one I just saw on the previous page! But wait – there’s more. 

 Lifting the flaps, we can see inside the predators’ tummies. What a fun way to begin a discussion about who eats whom – perfect reading before any meal.

 My kids always enjoyed cooking up things in the kitchen, whether it was messing around with pizza dough, tossing chips into cookie dough, or making their very first sandwich. We didn’t have a kid cookbook, so our culinary adventures were more … math and science labs (for want of a better description).

 Now here’s a visual guide to cooking for kids who just might want to make their own snacks!

Look and Cook Snacks: A First Book of Recipes in Pictures
by Valorie Fisher
48 pages; ages 4-7
‎Astra Young Readers, 2023

The idea behind this book: illustrate recipes in a step-by-step fashion so kids who can’t yet read (and visual learners) can take some ownership of their kitchen adventure. And with recipes like these, who wouldn’t want to? Lime Fizz, pickled peanut, avocado smashup (something I made last night with no help, btw), easy-peasy pickles, and yummus – which is like avocado smashup but with chickpeas. And a lemon instead of a lime.

What I like about this book: It’s fun and kid-friendly, contains lots of math stuff and enough mashing and smashing to entertain anyone – but an adult needs to be nearby to help with the sharp stuff, the hot stuff, and the grindy stuff (blender). Also, there is Front Matter. A how-to-use-this-book page introduces symbols that indicate servings, time needed for the recipe (or a step) and a hand in a red circle to indicate “get help from a grown-up.” There’s a visual guide to tools used for measuring, mixing, cooking, and a wonderful guide on how to tell whether your muffins are done using the toothpick test. At the end is a page that shows things you can substitute – heck! I can think of a few adults who could use this book.

 

Since we’re talking about food and food chains, I could not resist this one!

Poop for Breakfast: Why Some Animals Eat It
by Sara Levine; illus. by Florence Weiser
32 pages; ages 5-10
Millbrook Press, 2023

What’s for breakfast? Poop’s for breakfast!

Really? EWWWWWWW!

Sounds disgusting, sure – but some animals eat poop. There’s even a name for this: coprophagy. And they do it for a number of surprisingly good reasons, says Sara Levine. For butterflies, it can help make their eggs stronger. To get grass- (and leaf and bark)-digesting bacteria into their guts, baby elephants eat droppings from their mom and other members of the herd. Some animals need food to travel through their digestive system twice so they … well, you get the picture.

What I like about this book: Each spread gives an example, and then in a sidebar provides a detailed explanation of how coprophagy is an adaptation for that animal. Final spreads show why it isn’t for humans. The language is easy to read, humorous in places, and never gets boring. Plus there is back matter that includes a visual field guide of scat and invites readers to be “poop detectives.” There's also a tongue-in-cheek textbox listing synonyms for poop. Not on the list: coprolite.

Beyond the Books:

Did you eat turkey on Thanksgiving? If it was a wild turkey it might have eaten acorns and berries, insects and snails – even a frog! And then you ate it. Can you draw a food chain for a wild turkey that ends up in your tummy?

Make something you like to eat. Maybe it’s a sandwich or pancakes, or maybe you love chocolate chip cookies. Whatever it is, help gather ingredients, measure things, mix … and definitely taste-test. Sometimes you have to test more than one (especially with cookies, right?).

You have probably seen signs of animals in your neighborhood: round pellets in the grass, maybe berry-laden scat near your garden. Wouldn’t it be great to know who was there? Here are a couple books that were written for young nature detectives: Tracks, Scats and Signs (Take Along Guides) by Leslie Dendy and Mammal Tracks and Scat: Life-Size Pocket Guide by my friend, Martha Mitchell (illustrator) and Lynn Levine.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website.Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

 

When a Whale Dies ...

Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem 

by Melissa Stewart; illus. by Rob Dunlavey

40 pages; ages 4-8

‎Random House Studio, 2023

theme: whales, ecology, food chain

When a whale dies,

its massive body

  silently sinks

        down,

             down,

through the inky darkness,

    finally coming to rest

    on the soft, silty seafloor.

When I’ve come upon the remains of creatures on my walks, perhaps a cat on the side of a road, I notice the activity surrounding the body. Flies, beetles, wasps – so many other creatures involved in recycling the once-alive animal. But I never once thought about what happens when a whale dies! Turns out it’s a lot like what happens with animals in the forests and fields – only it’s deep, deep in the sea. Hagfish and other sea animals smell the whale and gather for a feast. Crabs scavenge for left-overs and smaller critters scrape the bones clean. 

What I like love about this book: I love how Melissa shows that everything is connected. While zombie worms eat the bones, tiny lobsters dine on the zombie worms. I love how she carefully curates strings of alliterative words. Crabs “scarf up scraps,” others “sift through sediment,” and everyone is “hunting for tasty tidbits.” Rob Dunlavey’s artwork is detailed and brings even the most land-locked reader deep into the ocean. And there is Back Matter where readers can find out more about whale falls and the animals that feed on those whales.

To make sure she gets the facts, Melissa goes straight to the source. I wanted to know more

Me: Why is it so important to reach out to scientists when writing STEM books for kids?

Melissa: Interviewing experts can enrich any nonfiction book, and when a book is about cutting-edge science, like ocean exploration or dinosaur discoveries, it's the only way to be sure the information you're sharing is accurate and up to date.

For Whale Fall, reaching out to experts was critical because so little has been written about these amazing deep-sea ecosystems. And even the scientists who are devoting their careers to studying whale falls and the creatures that depend on them still have many questions. Interviewing researchers wasn't just the best way to get information--it was the only way.

In some cases, illustrator Rob Dunlavey's art shows creatures and behaviors that have never before been represented visually, so he also depended on feedback from our science consultants to get the details right. We really couldn't have created this book without their assistance.

Beyond the Books:

Explore an undersea whale fall with the Nautilus expedition team of 2019. They’ve got a video here. You can also listen to an NPR piece about what happens after a whale dies.

Find out something about one of the animals that helps turn a dead whale into recycled nutrients: sharks, rattails, hagfish, crabs, amphipods, lobsters, zombie worms. 

Next time you come across bones or remains of an animal, think about how they fit into the food cycle. Do you see any insects eating the animal? Or signs of scavenging?

Melissa Stewart is a member of #STEAMTeam2023. You can find out more about her at her website, 

https://www.melissa-stewart.com/

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Making Connections ~ by Matt Lilley

 

My book, Good Eating: The Short Life of Krill, is all about Antarctic krill and the Southern Ocean food web. Most of the animals in the Southern Ocean – including whales, seals, sea birds, and penguins – gobble down tons of krill. Most of those that don’t eat krill themselves eat something else that eats krill (like orca eating penguins). 

Krill are small, but very important. Learning about what eats what in nature can be a way to see how the plants and animals in an ecosystem are connected.

Another example are purple sea stars. These live from the coast of California to southern Alaska. They live in tide pools and eat mussels (and other things too). Without purple sea stars around to eat mussels, the mussels take over their ecosystem. They crowd out everything else. Then species like sea slugs and anemones can’t survive there anymore. If you take sea stars out of their ecosystem, most of the other species disappear too. Understanding one piece of that food chain helps us see how that whole ecosystem works. 

You can learn about the ecosystem in your own neighborhood by figuring out the food chains. Start with one creature and see how far you can get. In my neighborhood, we have dragonflies in the summer. One great thing about dragonflies is that they eat pesky mosquitoes. With their four wings, dragonflies are great hunters. One dragonfly can eat dozens of mosquitoes every day. 

But then, what eats dragonflies? Dragonflies get eaten by many animals, including birds, bats, and spiders. If you watch the birds outside, sometimes you can see them catch their food, including dragonflies. 

            

Another animal I find sometimes is the ground beetle (carabids). Many of the carabids are black beetles. I accidentally dig them up when I’m gardening in the spring. Before, when I found them, I would wonder if I should squish them. Once I found out what ground beetles eat, I knew they were good to have around. They are predatory beetles that eat many garden pests, such as slugs and flies. Animals, like moles and toads, eat ground beetles. Ground beetles are nocturnal, and so are many of the predators that eat them. Learning about the ground beetle's place in the local food chain tells me about what other creatures might be coming out to hunt at night.

The next time you are outside, think about the creatures you see and how they are connected in the food chain. Understanding food chains can show you a lot about how an ecosystem works.

I'm happy Matt could share his love of natural history with us, today. In addition to writing STEMmy books for kids, Matt is a Minnesota Master Naturalist. You can find out more about him and his books at his website. And you can check out my review of Good Eating here.

Krill: mmm-mmm good!

Good Eating: The Short Life of Krill 

by Matt Lilley; illus. by Dan Tavis 

36 pages; ages 6-8

Tilbury House Publishers, 2022

theme: nature, ocean, food chain

Hey, egg. What are you doing?

The egg, it turns out, is sinking. Down, down … and then it hatches into a weird six-armed larva that begins to swim up, up, up. Over time, this larva goes through changes, developing eyes, a mouth, and an appetite for small things. Really small things – plankton! From here on out it’s an eat-grow-swim world for the krill … until something big and hungry comes along. 

What I like about this book: I like how the book is written as a conversation with a krill. Author Matt Lilley asks krill questions throughout. At the beginning: how can you do all this growing and changing without eating anything? I like how he warns them about predators. “Watch out! Penguins!” And the cheesy jokes: how many is a million million?  A  krillion!

There is back matter- more information about how krill are part of the ocean food web, and more krill facts. Did you know that krill can create their own light, like fireflies? Even the krill-covered end pages are fun.

I was intrigued by the voice in this book, so I asked Matt One Question 

Me: How did you decide to address the book to the krill? You begin with "Hey, egg." And throughout you give them warnings about penguins and other predators.

Matt: The first draft of Good Eating was in the third person, but it didn't feel right to me. It felt like the audience would be too distant from the subject of the story. As soon as I changed it to second-person/"you", it felt right. I think addressing it to "you" makes the reader feel closer to the story. The narrator is addressing the krill as "you," but it also feels like the narrator is talking directly to the reader. It's a way of inviting the reader to imagine life through the eyes of that one krill.

Beyond the Books:

A single Antarctic krill can grow to be as long as your pinky (about 6 cm) and weigh up to 1 gram. A penny (US) weighs 2.5 grams. So how many krill is 10 pennies worth?

Play a round or two of Krill Smackdown. In this game you try to move your swarm of krill while collecting krill eggs and avoiding predators. Here's the link.

Learn more about Krill at the Antarctic. You can watch a "cool" video here. 

Matt is a member of #STEAMTeam2022. You can find out more about him at his website.

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by Myrick Marketing & Media

Put on Your Parkas to Read this Book...

Life in a Frozen World: Wildlife of Antarctica 
by Mary Batten; illus by Thomas Gonzalez
40 pages; ages 6-10
Peachtree Publishing Company, 2020

Antarctica is the coldest, driest place on Earth, writes Mary Batten. Though it is covered with ice, Antarctica is the largest desert on our planet. That’s because it never rains there and when it does snow, that snow becomes part of the ice sheet.

“Yet in this extreme environment, life thrives,” Batten writes. Beginning at the bottom of the food chain – with algae and krill – she shows how life has adapted to that frozen continent. Algae, for example, have adapted to the low light conditions below the sea ice. And those teeny tiny krill, each no larger than a thumb, swarm in numbers so high that they can be seen from space. They are keystone species, Batten explains, because they play a key role in Antarctica’s food chains.

Scientists from all over the world are studying Antarctica to learn how climate is threatening the habitats and creatures living there. They are also studying how Antarctica affects weather, ocean currents, and sea levels on our planet. 

Back matter includes a map of Antarctica, some fast facts, a glossary, and some resources for curious naturalists. Batten also includes an author’s note about her work with the Cousteau Society and why the chaos of a warming climate is such a critical issue for our future.

On the outside, this looks like any other picture book. But open it up and you find it’s an adventure that appeals to older kids. Though a bit text-dense for bedtime reading,  I feel this illustrated book is a perfect fit for teachers and homeschooling families looking for up-to-date, authoritative information about Antarctica. It hits the shelves in November – a perfect month for an adventure into ice and cold.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.

A rotten book!

Rotten! Vultures, Beetles, Slime, and Nature’s Other Decomposers 
by Anita Sanchez  ; illus by Gilbert Ford
96 pages; ages  7-10
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2019

theme: decomposers, ecology, nature

“It’s a rotten world,” writes Anita Sanchez. No matter where you look, from the backyard compost pile to the landfill – and even in the back of your fridge – things are decomposing. And that’s a good thing, because imagine what the world would be like if nothing broke down. Decomposed. Rotted away. What would happen to dead animals, orange peels, that pile of dog poop?

In this book we meet dung beetles –the little critters that especially love the dung of plant-eating animals. Turns out, dung beetles are major players in the battle against global warming.

We meet vulture and other scavengers that feed on the flesh of dead animals. Scavenging is a pretty good strategy because dead meals don’t fight back!

We meet the “fun guys” of the decomposer club, fungi. They excel at breaking down the tough bonds that hold molecules of wood together, Sanchez writes. They turn fallen logs into humus – crumbly dark soil perfect for growing new plants. We meet ants, termites, slugs and slime molds, and even take a field trip into our own homes to check out what’s rotten.

I love the way Sanchez makes rotten things sound like the most exciting stuff to look for! And her hands-on challenges: follow sandwich crusts and a “rot it yourself” test. And I really like the last chapter about Rotten People – and we’re not talking about scallywags, thieves, and politicians!

Today we're joining other book bloggers over at STEM Friday, where you can discover other cool STEM books. And Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Eating Bugs with Rebecca Petruck

Boy Bites Bug 
By Rebecca Petruck
272 pages; ages 8 and up
Amulet Books, 2018

I love finding STEM-related fiction, especially when it involves insects! Boy Bites Bug is about middle school and growing up, discovering who you are who your friends are. It’s also about wrestling, racism, and respect. And, of course, bugs – some swallowed by accident, some on purpose.

This was the winter of the stinkbug invasion in our house, so I particularly loved the opening lines of the book: The intrusion of stinkbugs clumped on the ceiling in a back corner of the library, a splotch like crusty dried mud. 

Of course one of those bugs ends up in Will’s mouth! But instead of becoming an outcast, he becomes “bug boy”, and kids good-naturedly tease him by making up names for lunch items in the school cafeteria: French flies; maggot-aroni and fleas.

Turns out that people all around the world eat bugs as part of their meals. They’re a great source of protein. So Will decides to do a class project on eating insects, and enlists the aid of Eloy Herrera. Eloy agrees, in exchange for Will’s help with wrestling. As their friendship grows, Will’s friendship with Darryl cools. Darryl had called Eloy a racial slur, and seems jealous of the time Will spends with his new friend. Meanwhile there’s wrestling practices and… where did that box of live crickets come from?

I love that this book has back matter: a guide to eating bugs, and a few recipes. Author Rebecca Petruck even rustled up some grubs to taste test: waxworms in cookies, crickets in tacos, and earthworm jerky. Last week she graciously squeezed time between school visits to answer a few questions. 

Archimedes: This isn't a book about insects, but one about becoming a more thoughtful human. So what made you want to use entomophagy as one of the focal points? 

Rebecca: When I began thinking about a new novel, I actually started with the ideas behind edible insects. It took a while to find the story. It evolved naturally, I think, from the facts of edible insects being significantly healthier for the planet in that they use far fewer resources to raise while producing the same, more, and often better nutrients than “traditional” meats and many other food sources.

Our planet is experiencing climate change of a type not seen in millions of years, when Earth was not a homo sapiens friendly place. But, our country is not friendly to all homo sapiens either. Human rights are for everybody, no exceptions. I don’t recall a conscious moment of thinking, “These two facts go together.” It was that special alchemy of the brain making a connection.

We must respect the planet. We must respect each other. Our physical survival, as well as our emotional integrity depend on it.

Archimedes:  Tell us how you did your entomophagy research: what experts you talked to, field trips, events, publications? 

Rebecca: I immediately read The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook by David George Gordon, Edible by Daniella Martin, and National Geographic’s Ultimate Bug-opedia. All were invaluable in educating me and providing me with all sorts of cool buggy facts to use throughout Boy Bites Bug. 

I made dishes like cricket tacos and waxworm cookies from ingredients that arrived alive. I also sampled a variety of treats from several edible insect online shops. I interviewed leaders in the entomophagy community like Christina Socha of Bugs,Inc, and Stacie Goldin of Entomo Farms, who are making huge moves in the Canadian food market. And I follow an entomophagy group on Facebook with posts by leading chefs and edible insect advocates from around the world.

I think the biggest takeaway for me was how contagious their enthusiasm is. They genuinely love edible insects for their tastiness and feel passionately about insects’ healthfulness for our bodies and our planet. It’s a triple win!

Also, I went to Triton Middle School, where Boy Bites Bug is set. I was a seventh grader for a day, and I attended a wrestling team practice and later a tournament. Because a main character, Eloy Herrera, is Hispanic-American, I hired four Latinx middle school students in Minnesota to read an early draft of the manuscript, received notes from all, and was able to interview two of them. I also became a fangirl of Chef Enrique Olvera and modeled Eloy’s dad after him. (An episode of Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” features Olvera.)

Archimedes: What do waxworms taste like? (I haven't tried them yet)

Rebecca: They taste like soft macadamia nuts. In Boy Bites Bug, I describe the waxworms being overcooked in cookies and making the texture leathery and the worms a bit flavorless. That happened to me, too. Bake small cookies like the recipe recommends, and that problem is solved.

I ordered my waxworms from San Diego Waxworms. They arrived alive in two small containers of sawdust. That entire scene in Boy Bites Bug is pretty much a recreation of my experience.

Archimedes: I would feel bad about eating bee larvae. Are there any bugs you wouldn't eat?

Rebecca: I haven’t eaten bees because of the collapse of so many bee colonies, though there is a delicious-seeming recipe in Gordon’s cookbook called “Three BeeSalad.” I want to note that the first edition was printed in 1998, and the dramatic increase of colony collapse spiked in 2006. Responsible insect foraging and farming is as important to any entomophagist as the safe preparation and eating of insects.

As far as eating bugs, I’m game to try anything once. But I haven’t gone out of my way to track down dung beetles or cockroaches, both of which are edible. And I will never again eat earthworm jerky. Blech!

Head over to this page on Rebecca's website for some discount codes for edible insect online shops. You can also read the first five chapters of Boy Bites Bugs.

Thinking that you want to try eating some insects? Then check out this book:

Insects, An Edible Field Guide 
By Stefan Gates
144 pages; Ebury Press, 2018

This book covers more than 70 edible bugs from all over the globe. Part field guide, part cooking guide, it provides what you need to know before diving into dining on insects. It’s divided into sections by continent: northern Europe, southern Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Australia/Pacific Oceania.

The introduction includes safety issues (don’t eat arthropods if you have a shellfish allergy), and the environmental and nutritional benefits of chowing down on insect protein. While not a cookbook, it does introduce readers to a diversity of insects that you might not have thought edible.

 Today we're joining the STEM Friday roundup. Head over to see what other cool resources STEM bloggers are sharing. Review copies from publishers.

Leaf Litter Critters and Doodlebugs

Fun new books about bugs illustrate today's themes: insects, nature, imagination.

Leaf Litter Critters
by Leslie Bulion; illus. by Robert Meganck
48 pages; ages 8-12
Peachtree Publishers, 2018

Between soil's grains of weathered rock.
Beneath its veiny leaves in scraps,
Amid its ribs of rotting sticks,
Soil's litter critters find the gaps.

 Welcome to the brown food web - banquet table for decomposers of all classes (and orders). From bacteria to beetles these poems get down and dirty about how dead stuff gets recycled into compost.

What I like about this book: Everything, from end pages to back matter. There are cool new words scattered about to describe the work of decomposers: shredding, chewing, humus-pooing... totally fun to read out loud! Every spread has science notes (sidebars) that go into detail about such things as duff, number of nematodes in soil, how fungi eat, pseudoscorpions - I really like the pseudoscorpions! Each poem not only focuses on a different litter critter, but also highlights a different style of poetry - which is explained in detail in back matter. There are linked cinquain, traditional stanzas, free verse, tanka, and more.

I love the back matter - a glossary, poetry notes, and hands-on field explorations. And there's a fun comparison of sizes of the critters, some compared to an earthworm and others compared to the head of a pin. So one could actually determine how many tardigrades can dance on the pin-head. And I love the end pages, with roly-poly pillbugs and sowbugs that march right onto the title page. What fun!.

 Do Doodlebugs Doodle? Amazing Insect Facts
by Corinne Demas and Artemis Roehrig; illus. By Ellen Shi
32 pages; ages 4-9
Persnickety Press (CLO), 2018

Do dragonflies breathe fire?

No, but they do have a long toothed jaw that can capture prey. Written in Q & A style, this book explores some of the questions kids might ask upon hearing an insect's name.

Do horseflies gallop? Do stink bugs take baths? Do yellowjackets wear yellow jackets? The response to each question is "no" - until we get to doodlebugs. Turns out they do doodle!

What I like about this book: It's fun and funny. And there's back matter! Each insect gets a bit more up-close-and-personal attention.

Beyond the Books: 
Pick up a pencil and doodle. You know you want to!

Go on a leaf litter field trip. All you need is a place where leaves have collected over a season or two, and a few other things. Here's a great list of stuff you'll need and how to find the litter critters.

Write a haiku about one of the litter critters you find - or to the leaf litter itself. Here's how.

 Today we're joining the STEM Friday roundup - and we're also joining others over at Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copies provided by publishers.

Predators, Prey, and Conservation

Rise of the Lioness: restoring a habitat and its pride on the Liuwa Plains
by Bradley Hague
56 pages; ages 8-12
National Geographic Children's Books, 2016

The Liuwa Plains are in Western Zambia - a perfect habitat for zebras, wildebeests, and lions. Back in 1972, the plains were declared a national park. But as the 20th century drew to a close, the plains were radically changed:

• cultural traditions that protected the environment were stripped away.
• the food chain was devastates.
• years of war led to increased poaching.

In less than a single human generation, Liuwa's ecosystem collapsed and by 2003, when peace finally settled, there was only one lion left: a lioness called Lady.

The thing about animals is that they don't just live in their environments; they shape them, too. And the Liuwa Plains without its top predators was "the environmental equivalent of tearing down a dam or blowing up a road," writes Hague. The loss of the lions created a trophic cascade, affecting the behavior of almost every animal in the habitat.

This book follows the scientists who studied Lady and figured out how to rebuild the local ecosystem. That meant reintroducing animals, including lions - easier said than done. But after many years, the Liuwa ecosystem was restored. This is a story of perseverance, patience, and pride.

If you're interested in learning more about predator and prey interactions check out:

Explore Predators and Prey! with 25 great projects
by Cindy Blobaum
96 pages; ages 7-10
Nomad Press, 2016

After introducing what predators are, and their prey, this book jumps right into strategies for hunting  and hiding. If you don't want to be eaten you might try camouflaging yourself, or disguising yourself with odors.

If you're a predator you might adopt certain strategies, such as stalking, or use tactics like echolocation. Or you might wait in ambush to attack some unwary snack walking by.

Every chapter is loaded with hands-on activities to try, and lots of fun facts, new words, and even a few jokes.

Today we're joining the STEM Friday roundup. Drop by STEM Friday blog for more science books and resources. Review copies provided by publishers.

Because of an Acorn

Because of an Acorn
by Lola Schaefer and Adam Schaefer; illus. by Frann Preston-Gannon
36 pages; ages 3-6
Chronicle Books, 2016

I love the simplicity of this book:
Because of an acorn, a tree.
Because of a tree, a bird.

I love the ecological layers in this book: food, shelter, seed, transport. Everything - everything - is connected.

I love the illustrations. Simple, soft, just enough detail. And cumulative. Plus there are some interesting die-cuts where the shape created the image on one page, but the coloring is from something different on the next.

See what I mean? Seedling and grass roots and soil particles... how cool is that!

I love the back matter. That's where you can learn more about the white oak tree - a "foundation species", and what an ecosystem is, and what role saplings play in the food chain. That's where you get the nitty-gritty details about forest inhabitants and why we need forests.

And that's where you'll find four things you can do to help forests.

By this time in November, most of our acorns are gone - eaten by turkeys or buried by squirrels. But I know that I'll find tiny oak sprouts in the spring... in my gardens and in the middle of the yard. And there's always plenty of acorn caps to use for art projects.

Today's review is part of the STEM Friday roundup. Drop by STEM Friday blog for more science books and resources. Review copy provided by publisher.

Dining with Dinosaurs

Dining with Dinosaurs: a tasty guide to Mesozoic munching
by Hannah Bonner
48 pages; ages 7-10
National Geographic Kids, 2016

If you are starving for dinosaur knowledge, this book serves up a full-course meal of mouthwatering Mesozoic food facts. Starting with who ate who. Or whom. It's a basic intro to the "vores" - carnivores eating herbivores who are eating plants which are gobbling down photons at an alarming rate.

We meet the meat eaters - carnivores of all sizes from mega-huge to eagle-sized. There are omnivores that eat anything they can get their hands on, insectivores who eat bugs, and fish-chomping piscivores. There were even dinovores -  dinos that ate dinos - and scavengers that ate anything dead, including dinos past their expiration date.

Then we meet the herbivores, plant-eaters of all sizes, makes and models from tiny crickets with huge appetites to the extra-large Diplodocus who nibbled leaves from the tops of the trees.

Along the way, Hannah (she's the author) and her Microraptor paleo pal introduce us to scientists who explain tough questions about dinosaur poop, teeth, and more. They even interview a Mesozoic plant about its diet.

When Hannah was in high school, her father wrote a book about the plants of Mallorca. She drew the pen-and-ink illustrations to go with it. You can find out more about Hannah at her website, and read my review of an earlier book here.

And if you're up for a challenge, you can download the game "Evolve or Perish" that Hannah developed for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

  
Today's review is part of the STEM Friday roundup. Drop by STEM Friday blog for more science books and resources. Review copy provided by publisher