The Life-Size Guide to Insects product reviews

Last year at daycare my daughter developed a love for insects. She would spend whole days out in the daycare gardens, collecting insects in boxes and yoghurt pots. Then she would track them inside to draw them, write stroies about them and classify them in a book they had at daycare. Every day when I would turn up to daycare, I would be presented with the book and asked to read about a certain bug she had found that day. This happens to be that book.

For her 5th birthday her Nana got her a copy of this so she wouldn't miss out on bug information. We had been kindly given the daycare copy several times to take home with us as well. So it was with great delight that she received her own copy. This book is soft covered so it does need to be handled with care. Our copy has been around for less than a year and is already quite dog eared.

We love the layout of the book. Inside there is a neat graphic that allows you to start the classifying process yourelf. So you look at the insect you have and follow the processing map to see what pages you should be looking on for your bug. For example if its got 10+ legs then you head to the centipedes on page 26. It even has clues for if the bug is too little to tell number of legs. Then each insect type is broken down through the book, with full colour photos in true size as well. You get life cycle graphics too which are great for my budding scientist. Each native insect type is outlines with a blurb about them and whether they are truly native or just an introduced species.

If you don't like insects this is NOT the book for you. Personally I have always had an interest in insects, and was encouraged in this by my own mother. So we are a long line of insect loving kiwis. Looking through this book there is always something new to discover. Even my husband raves about this book because it is so useful when my daughter brings something into the house wanting to research it. I'd highly recommend it to anyone with kids who are interested in their natural world. It makes a great school or daycare resource too.

There is a LOT of insect and invertibrate life in New Zealand, and some of it even resides outside of our legal and governmental system. (Oops, that's naughty of me.)

For the budding young entomologist (someone who studies insects) this book will be an invaluable resource, easily referenced and full of all the sorts of information that will prove helpful and informative to anyone. Starting with a brief, but very easily understood description of Scientific Classification (how living things are named and classified) on the inside-front cover, right through to the comprehensive index at the back, this is one fascinating publication.

Now, I LOATHE most bugs (especially cockroaches and wetas), so the pictures gave me the creeps on most pages (that's how clear and real they are), but the information associated with each image was highly absorbing and informative.

Overall, I would have to say the whole "Life-Size Guide to..." series is shaping up to be a boomer, and this is yet another brilliant book by Andrew Crowe.