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S UMMER IS ALMOST
The summer reading club at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, available now, encourages kids to read for fun.
Children who sign up get a bag full of goodies, all decorated with our "Catch the Reading Bug" theme.
A newspaper activity sheet from The Free Lance-Star offers tickets to Liberty Lanes for kids who participate.
Sign up online at Kids Point.org or visit your closest branch to get your free summer reading kit and get the fun started!
Why not try a bug book this summer?
School-age children will enjoy "Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug," a wordless story from Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash.
The story itself is simple. Bow-Wow, a yellow terrier, follows a little black bug around his neighborhood-- but the execution is intriguing. In simple cartoon panels outlined in black, the authors show the pup, nose to the ground, following the little bug through the streets of the city, meeting other dogs following other bugs, then coming upon a crowd of enormous bugs chasing tiny little dogs.
The mix of clever, surrealistic images and the homey little terrier will appeal to young "readers" who like following every detail of the pictures.
Bugs are crawling on every page of "Hey There, Stink Bug!" by Leslie Bulion.
Poems about caterpillars, ant lions, bombardier beetles and maggots emphasize the gross and gory aspects of the critters, but the poetic forms, including haiku and clerihews, are varied and inventive.
Linoleum block prints on every page add a playful note. In the end, as Bulion tells us, "This is / an insect world with humans in it. / We'll seize the day, but they will win it."
What is it about bugs and poetry? Douglas Florian's "Insectlopedia" is another collection of funny bug poems ("You don't need tickets/ To listen to crickets"), and Judy Sierra's "Thelonius Monster's Sky High Fly Pie" tells a rhyming story about a monster who delights his party guests with a pie made out of sticky sugar and, yes, flies.
For children who want just the facts about bugs, two compilations of information and photos should do the trick.
"Eyewitness Insect" by Laurence Mound features life-size photos that illustrate everything from metamorphosis to camouflage.
Though it's a serious look at the insect world, the author does include Jiminy Cricket, noted as "the only four-legged cricket in the world."
Miranda MacQuitty's "Amazing Bugs" uses a similar format to introduce 7- to 10-year-olds to the insides and outsides of bugs, detailed descriptions of how and why some insects suck blood, and a look at the flying abilities of lacewings, moths and wasps.
Children who love these books might consider a career in the field.
Donna M. Jackson's "The Bug Scientists" profiles people who make their living up close and personal with insects.
Tom Turpin, pictured on the cover with two enormous bugs plastered to his cheek, runs a Cricket Spitting Contest at Purdue University to get students interested in his popular entomology classes.
Valerie Cervenka, a forensic entomologist, uses insects to investigate crimes.
Steven Kutcher's job is perhaps the most unusual: he directs insects and spiders in movies like "Jurassic Park" and "James and the Giant Peach."
This year's summer reading club might inspire kids for life!
Caroline Parr is coordinator
Email: cparr@crrl.org.
