The art is more sophisticated, yet full of jest, in Douglas Florian’s Insectlopedia (ages 5-10), featuring interesting effects from watercolors on primed paper bags with collage. Three crickets, for instance, appear to be fiddling around a crescent moon. Florian has a fondness for creatures of all kinds, as shown in previous companion books Beast Feast, On the Wing, and In the Swim. These poems are witty “The Inchworm” is one long line arching across the page, while “The Locusts” begins: “Hocus/pocus/We are locusts./On your farm/We swarm.” Reviewed by Alice Cary.
Valiant Women is a vital and engrossing attempt to correct the record and rightfully celebrate the achievements of female veterans of World War II.
