Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

In her latest science-focused picture book, Rockwell offers perspectives from two kids with opposing opinions about insects.A Black girl with long braids and glasses announces her love of insects while a boy of Asian descent, who drops his sandwich running from two houseflies, says he hates them. Throughout this picture book, which teems with color and motion, the girl focuses on the positives, like their beauty, role as pollinators, and benefits to the soil, as the boy highlights the negatives, like their penchant for stinging, the ugliness of insects like fleas, and the damage some such as aphids do to plants. Readers can decide for themselves whether the two protagonists find some points of agreement. The final double-page spread illustrates all of the insects that appear in the book and invites readers to revisit earlier pages to find them, including butterflies, beetles, bees, a mosquito, a cricket, and more. This informational early reader employs a controlled vocabulary that intentionally repeats words and phrases to facilitate independent reading. Many recognizable insects appear in the book, like the field cricket and the bumblebee, but Rockwell also includes some, such as the little wood satyr butterfly and the cucumber beetle, that will pique curiosity and encourage budding entomologists to explore further to learn about bugs they've never met.A fun, educational science book that thoughtfully portrays kids of color engaging with and learning from nature and each other. (Informational early reader. 4-7)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2021)

PreS-Gr 1 This beautifully illustrated nonfiction early reader follows a Black girl and an Asian boy with very different feelings about insects: One loves them and the other hates them. The girl talks to her friend about the many wonderful aspects of bugstheir beauty, how they help plants to grow, and the nice sounds they make. The boy thinks that sometimes bugs make creepy sounds, and they can sting. Can she convince her friend that insects aren't as bad as he thinks they are? This is a wonderful addition to the publisher's "I Like to Read" series of books for emerging readers. Like in many of Rockwell's other books, this title pairs fun illustrations with an engaging narrative that makes it accessible. She features accurate depictions of insects throughout, showing how insects behave through her text and images. A visual dictionary of all of the insects is included in the back matter. This volume encourages exploration of the natural world and supports a child's natural curiosity. VERDICT A great book for beginning readers or to be read aloud. Kristin Williamson, Metropolitan Lib. Syst., OK

ALA Booklist (Sat May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2021)

On a warm day, a girl and a boy sit outside and express different viewpoints on insects. She loves them; he hates them. This dichotomy organizes and energizes the simply written text. After the girl admires pretty butterflies, the boy disdains ugly fleas. When she points out that insects help plants through pollination and tunneling through soil, he counters that other insects hurt plants by eating them. The girl enjoys getting close to insects, while the boy prefers to keep his distance. She likes their chirping. He dislikes their buzzing. Still, that evening, he's holding a jar with fireflies inside. "I love insects," says the girl, "do you?" Well suited to beginning readers, the short, large-type sentences flow nicely. Equally appealing to preschoolers, the book makes a good read-aloud, and the clearly drawn, colorful artwork, created using colored pencils, gouache, and watercolors, is well suited to group sharing. The closing double-page spread offers pictures of 20 insects to search for within the illustrations. An effective science book featuring a simple concept that is carried out beautifully.

Horn Book (Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2021)

Two friends sitting outside on a summer's day have very different opinions about insects. The girl, armed with a magnifying glass and a field guide and gazing admiringly at a butterfly, ladybugs, ants, and a damselfly (among others), declares that she loves insects. The boy, having been chased away from his sandwich by houseflies, says he hates insects. As this simple and clever book unfolds, each child offers facts supporting their viewpoint. Some insects hurt plants, while others eat the insects that do so; some insects are "so ugly," others pretty; some make unpleasant sounds, others nice ones. At book's end, twilight has descended, the fireflies have come out, and...has the boy come around to his friend's point of view? The book's text is entirely composed of dialogue. But even though no quotation marks are used, because of the strength of each child's opinions, there is never any doubt who is speaking -- except on the final, ambiguous spread. Vocabulary in this beginning-reader picture book is controlled but feels very natural. Illustrations in colored pencil, gouache, and watercolor capture the flora and fauna of a garden while keeping viewers connected to the human characters. A final double-page spread identifies each insect pictured in the book. Love it! Martha V. Parravano

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

In her latest science-focused picture book, Rockwell offers perspectives from two kids with opposing opinions about insects.A Black girl with long braids and glasses announces her love of insects while a boy of Asian descent, who drops his sandwich running from two houseflies, says he hates them. Throughout this picture book, which teems with color and motion, the girl focuses on the positives, like their beauty, role as pollinators, and benefits to the soil, as the boy highlights the negatives, like their penchant for stinging, the ugliness of insects like fleas, and the damage some such as aphids do to plants. Readers can decide for themselves whether the two protagonists find some points of agreement. The final double-page spread illustrates all of the insects that appear in the book and invites readers to revisit earlier pages to find them, including butterflies, beetles, bees, a mosquito, a cricket, and more. This informational early reader employs a controlled vocabulary that intentionally repeats words and phrases to facilitate independent reading. Many recognizable insects appear in the book, like the field cricket and the bumblebee, but Rockwell also includes some, such as the little wood satyr butterfly and the cucumber beetle, that will pique curiosity and encourage budding entomologists to explore further to learn about bugs they've never met.A fun, educational science book that thoughtfully portrays kids of color engaging with and learning from nature and each other. (Informational early reader. 4-7)