Face Bug

by J. Patrick Lewis, Kelly Murphy (Illustrations), Fred Siskind (Photographs)

In this ingenious picture book, Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis invites you to visit the Face Bug Museum. There, readers can meet fourteen bugs in Lewis's sly, humorous poems; gaze upon giant close-ups of the creatures' faces in Siskind's photographs; and follow the antics of two beetle friends in Kelly Murphy's artwork. This is a trip to a museum--built by bugs, "fo"r bugs--unlike any other. It is also a poetry collection, macro-photography book, and illustrated story--all in one. Includes end notes with photographs of the entire bugs and further information about these creatures.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens, Science, Humor, Nature

36 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

J. Patrick Lewis is the current Children's Poet Laureate. He has written more than seventy children's books, including Once Upon a Tomb: Gravely Humorous Verses. J. Patrick Lewis lives in Ohio.

Reviews

[The Reading Countess · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mix of poetry and informational text complete with up close photographs of some of nature's oddest creatures, Face Bug is one of this year's Bluebonnet listed books. Kids are sure to learn a lot about these creepy, crawly critters and come away with a newfound sense of awe about insects, poetry and nonfiction. Win-win-win.

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not interested in buying a membership to this insect museum. One visit is enough and I've already been twice...one silently and one aloud.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like its spirit, but the poems often have really odd meter and rhyme scheme.

[Ice 9 · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://letterstocassiandotherfolks.bl...

[Barbara Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I didn't find any new favorite poems, the photographs were amazing. Also, I liked the info about each bug at the end of the book.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

POETRY- Ed 230

The poems are super fun and cute in the book, and the illustration doodles on the pages are hilarious.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know a little boy of a long time ago who would have loved this book, my son, all grown now, who kept stinkbugs as pets for quite a while, and was fascinated by all kinds of insects. The book celebrates, through the poetic words, photos, and cartoon illustrations, the grand opening of the Bug Museum of 14 real insects, all especially interesting because of what they eat, how and where they live, and their particular looks. I love Lewis’ wordplay, showing such innovation in his created words, like in “Praying Mantis”. Describing the sorry lot of the male in this pair, he writes: “My kind of male! Now be a dear,/Play piggyback,/You mant-iac.” And he calls the American Horse Fly the “Clydesdale of all flies.” The poems are filled with information, and there is more in the backmatter. You might be interested in the Nursery Web Spider who it’s told “builds a nursery ‘tent’” and “puts her eggs inside to hatch/then stands guard by her motherbatch”. The photography is amazing, showing close looks at each. My particular favorite is the Goldenrod Stowaway Moth that looks like it’s covered with orange and cream brush bristles. Finally, the cartoon insects follow along in response to all that is being shown and written about each particular bug. There is much to enjoy on every page!

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lewis, J., P., (2013). Face bug. Honesdale, PA: WordSong.

National Council of Teachers of English- 2013

Poetry

It's the long awaited opening night of The Face Bug Museum and every type of creepy, crawly critter will be sure to attend. J. Patrick Lewis beautifully blended photography, animated drawings, and rhyme to his popular poetry book featuring 14 different types of bugs. This humorous collection of poems featuring the antics of Pearl Crescent Butterfly, Nursery Web Spider, and many other insect friends is great to use for grades K-3. I would even use this book to review rhyme scheme, compare and contrast free verse and rhyming words, and discuss characteristics of a poem with my 4th and 5th graders. This book can also be used to categorize the different insects in science class. The information in the poems and details in the colored photographs can be used to group insects by body characteristics, what they eat, habitat, if they go through metamorphosis, etc. I really like how the animated drawings were not used just to take up space, but to accentuate the information in the verse and add some humor to the book. The book is an interesting read for girls and especially boys who don't necessary like to read or understand poetry.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids find bugs fascinating, and this poetry volume caters to that love. As is frequently the case when I read a Lewis collection, I enjoy the illustrations and photography more than his poems. Poems are cute, fun, and will highlight interesting features of bugs--Lewis sure can pick kid-friendly poetry topics! But they aren't stellar examples of "poetry." That being said, the close-up photographs of the buggy faces, the hilarious little drawings on every page, and the casual poetry all combine to make this a great little addition to an insect unit or just a reference book to have hanging out in a science classroom. Endmatter includes more detailed notes on each bug featured (although the tone is very chatty--this is more for casual reading than scientific research) as well as a photograph of the bug from a different angle. Casual tone aside, this is still a collection kids will learn a lot from while they're having fun reading about and looking at bugs. (And it's a nice way to sneak in some poetry for those poetry-phobic types!)

Note for my more conservative friends: there is mention of evolution in one poem and in at least one of the buggy notes at the end.

[Calinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is informative, and the pictures are very good, especially the photographs. (The drawings are also good, but the photos are the star of the artwork.) Kids will find the colorful pictures exciting and interesting, especially kids who like bugs.

The poetry which is the main focus verbally of the book, however, is not very good. It feels choppy and forced. Though it does contain interesting information to go with the photos, it is overall difficult to read and concentrate on, even for an adult. (Even for an adult who normally likes poetry.) The same information is found, in prose form, in a short dictionary-like set of entries on each bug in the back, which was actually much more pleasant to read and easy to digest. The brilliant photos, coupled with the prose entries on each of the bugs, would have been better than struggling through poetry that took great pains to rhyme (which I think is nice...I like rhyming poetry), but when reading it, you can definitely feel the struggle it was to find words to force it to rhyme.

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

2014-15 Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee. 3.5 stars. Good mix of humorous illustrations and photos of bugs at the grand opening of a bug face museum. Some of the poems flow better than others, be sure to practice to get the rhythm down before a read aloud. I love how the lightning bugs are used in light fixtures instead of light bulbs in the illustrations, really cute. There is a great pun on a sign for the praying mantis poem: Patient Prayer! There is also a limerick. Of course, even at a bug museum there is a snack bar and the exit is through the gift shop! Excellent back matter (earning the extra half star) includes conversational interviews from the featured insects, as well as a full body photo, not just the head shot by the poem. Be sure not to miss it - a few puns and sarcastic remarks from the bugs!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fifteen bug-filled poems introduce readers to different types of bugs with phrases sure to provide a different perspective on them; for instance, "Hickory Horned Devil" describes this bug as "a mini porcupine" (p. 6), while "Nursery Web Spider" notes this spider's "eight black eyes in a whiskery face"(p. 11). The large, colorful photographs and the ink and graphite illustrations provide a bug's eye view of the world, supporting the informative poetic lines. Choosing to highlight the bugs in this particular format--illustrations showing their playful nature and photographs showing what they really look like--allows readers' senses to be assaulted on many levels. This book would fit nicely in a science classroom.

[Mavish Maqsood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dislike bugs but I really enjoyed this book of poetry all about them. I believe children and older readers will enjoy it book as it is both entertaining and humorous. Kids, and maybe even adults, can learn facts about different bugs in a unique way.

I dislike bugs so I did not like some of the pictures, especially those of the spider! The photographer included real close up pictures of insects while the illustrator added funny cartoons of bugs on nearly every page. I liked these illustrations more than the poems and felt that the poems were simple but effective and would entertain most children.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems, photographs and illustrations - variety for every learner! U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (2011), J. Patrick Lewis, obviously finds humor in close-close-ups of bugs and in some of their funnier characteristics ("I love you Mr. Dobsonfly. Why? Because of those bucktooth incisors - your hypnotizers"). The photos are captivating, the poems target what children would find interesting and funny about insects, and the illustrations tie everything together. A research bonus includes an academic summary of each honored insect, credibly reviewed by the chairman of the Entomology Department at the University of Florida.

[Haley Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fascinating book Face Bug won the Texas Bluebonnet award and gave people a different perspective on how to view insects. This story explains the opening of the Face Bug Museum and each insect is provided with a detailed, up-close headshot, which helps the reader see what the insect actually looks like. The unique part of this book is that it is filled with poetry with each picture. This would be extremely beneficial in the classroom because Lewis provides so many different aspects in one book. His beautifully detailed photographs and the unexpected, but fluid poetry will give the students another way of not only viewing insects, but are also introduced to a new style of writing.

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a poetry book for your bug-loving students. Each page contains a poem with either an eye-catching photograph of an insect or a line-drawing cartoon if the insect. Some poems contain both. The illustrations include whimsical comments from the various insects which children will love reading. There is factual information about each insect with a photograph of the bug at the end of the poetry book. Information includes where the bug lived, what it eats, how it grows, and what eats that bug!! A great addition to any poetry collection.

[Xin Luan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a ingenious picture book. In this book, you not only read lots of poems, but also learn many knowledge about all kinds of bugs, such as characteristic, life habit. There are also photos of every bug in this book for children to know those bugs easily. This is a poetry book for your bug-loving students. Reading this book, children can learn both language and science.
Using Internet or book, students can find more information about bugs. Let students learn much more about bug, such as types, difference, and so on. I think it is a great book to teach science.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found both the photos and poems confusing at times. I'm still trying to figure out on the Horse Fly poems "She polishes her spear to poke you with it kid: your horsefly souvenir becomes a pyramid." I'm guessing it refers to a bite swelling. If that is correct, it's quite a stretch, and wasn't led up to in the poem. The extreme close ups also left me putting forth more effort than I cared to in order to understand them. Having the full body shots at the end was helpful. I did like the illustrations by Kelly Murphy, too bad they were dragged down by the rest of the set.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids love bugs and they are really going to love Face Bug. Set up as a visit to the bug museum, each bug is on display with creative and funny pencil illustrations. The poems that accompany each piece tell about the bug in question and the spread finish with an actual picture of the bug. The backmatter tells us more about each bug. It is creepy, funny and a little gross. A sure fire hit with the kids.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visually, this collection of poems on insects is awesome. You have the real life picture along with animated graphic cartoons that tie in with the poem and the poem itself on paired pages. In the back of the book is a take off of the word from our sponsor. This section tells on each insect done: where they live, how they grow, what they eat and what eats them. Each poem is humorous and makes a distinct impression on the reader with all the visual around it. Highly recommended!

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each poem in this book is accompanied by a close up photograph of an insect and fun black and white cartoons that add humor to the subject matter. Children who are fascinated by insects will appreciate this book and it would be a wonderful text to have in a classroom library during a unit on bugs, but I can't imagine most students seeking this book out or being captivated enough to read it in its entirety. I ended up skimming the poems after reading the first few.

[Kelly Dahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite an unusual poetry book, but children would love it! Each poem is about a different type of bug and is accompanied by both a real, close-up image of that bug and an illustration or cartoon featuring that bug. The images and illustrations make reading the poems fun and not only will children be learning about different types of poetry, but they will also be learning quite a bit about insects.

[Carissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not much of a poetry reader or a lover of bugs so you would think a book that combines these two wouldn't be given such a high rating by me; but these poems were rather enjoyable and all had some really great lines.

"Yes, you're the clever creature
That everybody things
Is quite a thing of beauty,
But sometimes beauty stinks."

[Marjorie]

I am going to read through this first thing Monday. I had a librarian tell me ALL kindsa crazy shit about this book being sexual and too graphic because the " praying something" did something after she had sex. I told her praying mantis females eat the male after they are done mating. it is a scientific fact that should be in a book! omg.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of fun poems with wonderful pictures of bugs faces. I could see the bugs pulling in a child and then attracting them to the poems. There are some facts in the back, but no appendix, index, or glossary.

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the arresting format. Kids are going to pick this one up just because of the awesome cover. However, the actual poetry isn't very interesting. But the format, the cleverly written information provided at the back and best of all, the great photographs make this one a fun book to peruse.

[Elizabeth Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful(?) up-close photos of insect faces, accompanied by clever poems, make this children's book exceptionally good. More details after the 'portrait' section show the full-length bugs, plus info on where they live, how they develop, what they eat and their predators ("what eats them").

[Jacqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

In black and white are insects at a museum. In color, the exhibits at the museum are 14 different bugs-close up face only. Back matter explains where they live, how they grow, what they eat and what eats them. I like the way this book is put together.

[Julee · Rating 4 out of 5]

2014-2015 Texas Bluebonnet nominee. Close up pictures of bugs and poetry? Genius! I look forward to introducing this buggy delight to students as we celebrate National Poetry Month. Students will easily be able to create their own bug inspired poems after reading this book.

[Skye Bryant · Rating 1 out of 5]

Deeply disappointed in this book. Up close photos of the bugs could have been awe-inspiring, but the page is full of black/white cartoons of bugs. Although the poems are well done, you miss them because the page is so full. Really surprised that this was chosen as a Bluebonnet book.