Insectlopedia: Poems and Paintings

Title: Insectlopedia: Poems and Paintings

Author/Illustrator: Douglas Florian

Publisher: San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1998

ISBN: 0-15-201306-7

Summary:

Insectlopedia is a collection of poems and paintings by Douglas Florian focusing on common insects, many of which can be found in your backyard.  

Critical Analysis:

Featuring twenty-one poems about common insects, Douglas Florian’s Insectlopedia is a humorous whirlwind tour of the North American insects. A fine balance of humor and fact is struck in each rhyming poem, making them not only laugh-out-loud funny but also an invitation to find out more about the insect. The bugs are personified comically—the black widow refuses to wear denim and giant water bugs never get cards for Father’s Day. Although rhythm features in all the poems, it is strongest for the weevils and army ants--practically marching.

“We are weevils.

We are evil.

We’ve aggrieved

Since time primeval.” 

The illustration accompanying each poem is watercolor and collage on a primed paper-bag, an unusual and visually interesting combination; many insects have funny expressions or use human props. Looking at the pictures, it seems that Florian had a lot of fun painting them and you’d like to try the technique yourself—just to see what happens. However, the painted illustrations aren’t the only visual fun. The whirligig beetles’ text spins round and round while the inchworm’s poem’s text wiggles up and down.

If you are reading these poems to a group of young children, expect giggles. If you read this book to yourself, expect the same. The table of contents will help you find just the bug you are looking for--unless you want a stinkbug or a dung beetle. Sadly, those two are not in the book.

Awards:

Douglas Florian has won the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, and ALA Notable Children’s Book Award for his book Beast Feast.

Reviews:

Scholastic: “Insectlopedia transforms the natural world into a realm where language, art, and entomology join with humor and imagination for a unified flight of fancy. And the spell it casts is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Publishers Weekly: "The silly, imaginative verses about whirligig beetles and waterbugs (almost) match the exquisite pictures in playfulness and wit. The result is downright stunning."

Booklist: “The clever artwork, deftly constructed, and the entertaining collection of insect and arachnid verse it illustrates will delight readers.”

More by Douglas Florian:

Mammalabilia - ISBN 978-0152050245

Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs - ISBN 978-0152052485 

Beast Feast - ISBN 978-0152017378

Author Quote:

“In poetry you can pull or push words, s t r e t c h words, shape words, invert words, invent words, use bad grammar, bad spelllling, or anything that makes the poem better. That’s poetic license, and I get mine renewed every Thursday.”

- http://www.curledupkids.com/intervue/intflori.htm

Activities:

Raise a caterpillar to a butterfly

Take a nature tour to seek out bugs

Created for course 5603.21 at Texas Woman's University