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I Like Bugs
Black Bugs. Green Bugs. Fat Bugs. Buggy Bugs. I like bugs!
It's time for YOU! Pick your favorite spot to read. This is going to be a great book!
It's time for YOU! Pick your favorite spot to read. This is going to be a great book!
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
18 people are currently reading
589 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Wise Brown
393 books1,210 followersMargaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Even though she died nearly 70 years ago, her books still sell very well.
Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading.
She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them.
She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn't the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. One time she gave two puppies to someone who was going to draw a book with that kind of dog. The illustrator painted many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he woke up, the papers he painted on were bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off the paper.
Margaret died after surgery for a bursting appendix while in France. She had many friends who still miss her. They say she was a creative genius who made a room come to life with her excitement. Margaret saw herself as something else - a writer of songs and nonsense.
Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading.
She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them.
She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn't the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. One time she gave two puppies to someone who was going to draw a book with that kind of dog. The illustrator painted many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he woke up, the papers he painted on were bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off the paper.
Margaret died after surgery for a bursting appendix while in France. She had many friends who still miss her. They say she was a creative genius who made a room come to life with her excitement. Margaret saw herself as something else - a writer of songs and nonsense.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
November 29, 2020
Now the featured text of I Like Bugs (which was published in 1999 and is therefore part of Margaret Brown’s unpublished manuscripts, since Margaret Wise Brown herself died in 1952) is certainly rhythmic and generally sufficiently engaging for young children, providing a joyful celebration of bugs, of insects, and of course also showing a young boy who totally likes and appreciates them.
However, if one then does consider how in such enduring children’s classics like in her Goodnight Moon and in her Noisy Books Margaret Wise Brown always strives to be both repetitive and at the same time textually detailed content wise, that in I Like Bugs our young narrator basically just keeps repeating that he likes bugs and some of their physical attributes (such as for example their sizes and shapes), personally, I find this rather too simplistic and also rather monotonous in both tone and textual scope and as such certainly not really en par with those Margaret Wise Brown picture books published during her lifetime. And considering that I also do find G. Brian Karas’ accompanying artwork not really all that aesthetically pleasant (because while his drawings certainly are colourfully fun and mirror the young boy’s enthusiasm for insects, they are also much too annoyingly cartoon-like for my tastes and with the featured bugs also rendered as really quite too minuscule for easy visual recognition), I can and will only consider but two stars for I Like Bugs (and to also and very pointedly make the claim that in my opinion, many if not most released after her death Margaret Wise Brown picture books just do not possess that same sense and spirit of childhood magic and delight that those offerings published whilst she was alive always or at least very much often and regularly did and do).
However, if one then does consider how in such enduring children’s classics like in her Goodnight Moon and in her Noisy Books Margaret Wise Brown always strives to be both repetitive and at the same time textually detailed content wise, that in I Like Bugs our young narrator basically just keeps repeating that he likes bugs and some of their physical attributes (such as for example their sizes and shapes), personally, I find this rather too simplistic and also rather monotonous in both tone and textual scope and as such certainly not really en par with those Margaret Wise Brown picture books published during her lifetime. And considering that I also do find G. Brian Karas’ accompanying artwork not really all that aesthetically pleasant (because while his drawings certainly are colourfully fun and mirror the young boy’s enthusiasm for insects, they are also much too annoyingly cartoon-like for my tastes and with the featured bugs also rendered as really quite too minuscule for easy visual recognition), I can and will only consider but two stars for I Like Bugs (and to also and very pointedly make the claim that in my opinion, many if not most released after her death Margaret Wise Brown picture books just do not possess that same sense and spirit of childhood magic and delight that those offerings published whilst she was alive always or at least very much often and regularly did and do).
May 3, 2019
Cute rhyming tale by a classic author, but I liked the illustrations by G Brian Karas most of all.
June 1, 2010
Silly book about bugs. Uses good descriptive words and repitious. Recommend to early readers and very little ones like my toddler. Written by Marget Wise Brown who also wrote "Goodnight Moon"
January 31, 2019
Read by my Lamby (6) to the family tonight.
April 13, 2020
My Little is currently learning all about bugs (and learning to read) so this was a cute and quick book with simple repetitive words and color adjectives. We love Margaret Wise Brown stories, though!
October 11, 2025
Very useful for learning Spanish! Helpful balance of "basic" vocab to describe the bugs and some lesser known vocab that is more so bug specific.
September 16, 2014
This is the very first book my son ever read that he had to figure out all by himself. The illustrations keep his interest and the words are not excessively lengthy or numerous, unlike some early readers. Try this with your kid and I believe you will find success.
May 6, 2008
By the author of Goodnight Moon, this book shows why Margaret Wise Brown is the master of simple stories for kids! Teaches adjectives.
September 16, 2010
This is an easy reader for young children. The fun and colorful illustrations and simple narrative will encourage even the most hesitant reader.
December 6, 2010
This is a book about the different colors and shapes of bugs. It is of a very easy reading level, so children in first grade could use this book to learn about bugs.
May 9, 2020
Read at Toddler Lap Time at the Tenley library on 8/2/13: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...
April 7, 2015
BORING!! Way to easy!
December 4, 2016
This book is about the different types of bugs that exist. I enjoyed this book for its simplicity and I would use this book in a classroom to teach younger children about bugs.
November 17, 2018
I am not sure why there is a trend of children's books with this type of art, but it feels really lazy to me, and uninteresting. The book is only okay.
August 29, 2022
It was a great book.
February 12, 2020
Margaret Wise Brown is a brave girl indeed, with a title like THIS that lays it out: I LIKE BUGS! That says it all! Cos a lotta people don't like bugs that creep and crawl and ruin houses and spoil food and nibble your elbow. A certain President sure don't like the "bugs" in his oval office, lol! But Margaret is nice enough to gently tease little readers to find bugs charming, even cute! And she's even made a bug fan out of me, though I still yipe when bugs buzz by my ear to this day. Bugs are part of our natural world, so it's a good thing to overcome fear and turn it into joy. As for me...my journey to overcoming fear is a work in progress, but I'm progressing for sure! So quit bugging... actually don't quit bugging and spread the bug around. The bug that is all love!!!
Four stars
Bugs rule all!!
Four stars
Bugs rule all!!
May 1, 2019
Quick read as this is a Level 1 beginner book and I am an adult. Read this as a joke to my coworker and I ended up liking it for it's repetition of the word "bugs" and how it seems like a poem. Usually I am not a fun of repetition, but it really worked in this book. Not much of a story. It talks about the different kind of bugs they like, not specific species, but how they look (shape, size, etc.). It all flows really well though.
January 2, 2024
I like bugs too. 🐛💜 🐜
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The artwork got one star taken off.
Please nobody kill the little innocent bugs out there. 🥺🥺🥺
Thank you to this book and to all of the other people out there who strive to protect these little delicate creatures of our Creator.
We have no right to take their life from them.
AMEEN.
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The artwork got one star taken off.
Please nobody kill the little innocent bugs out there. 🥺🥺🥺
Thank you to this book and to all of the other people out there who strive to protect these little delicate creatures of our Creator.
We have no right to take their life from them.
AMEEN.
March 23, 2023
This would be a good book to use for student reading assessments or for a specific science lesson. It may open conversations about particular student interests but not many characters are introduced so it only goes surface level with that topic.
April 16, 2024
Another very good Margaret Wise Brown book. While only a step one reading book, the author manages to have a rhythmic sense to the words and also impart a few basic facts. Great for insect fascinated little persons.
August 22, 2018
Fun easy reader for little kids.
February 3, 2019
My child is learning to read, is yours?
This is a leveled reading book.
This is a leveled reading book.
June 9, 2019
Read to me by my 6-year-old.
January 13, 2020
Simple and cute.
August 11, 2020
Cute and simple. Will be a great book to help my nephew learn to read.
August 11, 2020
H read this to me. 💗
March 4, 2021
The main character likes bugs in a book that comes across very Dr Seuss like.
For the very young reader and not one of her better books.
For the very young reader and not one of her better books.
August 22, 2022
I know this is intended for early readers, but my 17-month-old adores this book.
June 24, 2023
An excellent level one reader authored by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by G Brian Karas.
March 3, 2025
Great book for early spring to start learning about bugs with my almost 3 year old who’s afraid of almost all of them! She loves the rhymes and reading the book with me. :)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews