Go Bugs Go!

by Jessica Spanyol

Rev up young children's fascination for all things that go with this infectiously animated tribute to cars, trains, and planes.

Vroom! Vroom! Come and meet the Bugs! These energetic critters are crazy about driving all kinds of vehicles, from racing cars to diesel trains, jumbo jets to breakdown trains. They love to toot the horn, zoom up in the air, and race down the hill. Whee! But best of all, the Bugs like to bump and bash, jump and splosh! Jessica Spanyol's lively illustrations, abuzz with action words and nonstop movement, are sure to entice little drivers to jump right in and come for the ride.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2006

About the author

Jessica Spanyol wrote and illustrated her first story, "Carlo the Giraffe Who Could Not Read," when she was a precocious six and a half years old. As she grew older, her literary ambitions gave way to artistic ones, and she began a career as a fine artist. But the adult Jessica Spanyol, it turned out, could not shake the memory of Carlo the giraffe. So thirty years after its writing, she determined to rework her original story.

As a result, Jessica Spanyol's CARLO LIKES READING retains a delightfully childlike sensibility, with minor alterations and eye-catching artwork added by author thirty years later. "The character Carlo," explains the author, "was based on a blow-up toy giraffe, and the name, 'Carlo,' my brother's best friend." Even Crackers, Carlo's cat, can be traced back to the Spanyol family pet. In CARLO LIKES READING, Carlo the giraffe reads everything he sees. And because his world is covered in labels, there's always a lot of reading to do--Carlo reads labels on the street, in the park, at the market, and even on his dad! "There's plenty here to inspire pointing and identifying action on the part of emerging readers," assures PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, while KIRKUS REVIEWS notes that "this debut is bright, well-conceived, and infectiously enthusiastic."


Carlo (and his creator) made such a splash that readers and reviewers clamored for more -- and Carlo has since starred in CARLO LIKES COUNTING, CARLO LIKES COLORS, and CARLO AND THE REALLY NICE LIBRARIAN. Recently, Jessica Spanyol introduced her readers to a new cast of characters in the picture book, GO BUGS GO!


Jessica Spanyol studied at the Bath Academy of Art, Brighton Polytechnic, and the Royal College of Art. Since then, in addition to writing the Carlo series, she has worked as a theater set designer, a fine artist, and a tutor of illustration, winning the Folio Society Illustration Award and the Painter-Stainers Award. She lives in England with her family.

Reviews

[Jenna Mills · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot to look at on each page

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Books like "Goodnight Moon" are poetic and soothing to the reader as well as the audience. This one is NOT! There is no point, no story, just mindless doodles on the various pages of different bugs doing things that relate to transportation. My husband and I strongly disliked reading this book to my kids, but it seems that my 2-year old just loves it. I don't know if it is the planes or other transport vehicles, but he continually picks this out from the library...even when we go to a different library, he seeks this silly book out. So it may be worth a check out of the library, but definitely don't add it to your shelves.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It begins by introducing the cast of characters and then explores various forms of transport including racing cars, trains, planes and motor cars. For each type of transport every character has his or her own vehicle, there is a text description of either the vehicle or what the character is doing. There is no traditional narrative, instead there is plenty to read and talk about on each page. This would be a lovely book to sit and explore with your child.

[Riegs · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would be a good counting and vehicle book, but the names of the bugs and some of the vocabulary hinder its use in a classroom.

[Jenni Frencham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good Richard Scarry read-alike. Not for storytime, though - too much text on the pages.

[giftedteacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my younger daughter's favorite books!

[Zara Pemberton · Rating 3 out of 5]

re read when Sophia is older

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I and my three-year-old both like this style of book where there's lots of little mini-stories set amidst sprawling pictures. A good example in this style is Mizielinski's Welcome to Mamoko, although my child lost interest relatively quickly. Go Bugs Go!, on the other hand, is about vehicles, so I expect we'll be reading it for awhile.

Just for posterity... My three-year-old adores Mr Thornton-Jones and friends. I am not too fond of Bob, who looks like a bathroom-graffiti-style testicle.

my favorite quote: "Mr. Thornton-Jones has lost his glasses again. Oops!"