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Bugs in Danger: Our Vanishing Bees, Butterflies, and Beetles
By now you've probably heard that bees are disappearing--but they aren't the only species at risk. Populations of fireflies, butterflies, and ladybugs have all been declining in recent years, too. This middle grade nonfiction explains the growth, spread, and recent declines of each of these four types of insects. Exploring human causes, like the Baltimore electric company that collected fireflies to attempt to harness their phosphorescent lighting source, to natural occurrences, like the mysterious colony collapse disorder that plagues bee populations, master nonfiction storyteller Mark Kurlansky shows just how much bugs matter to our world.
187 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2019
21 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Mark Kurlansky
57 books1,982 followersMark Kurlansky is an American journalist and author who has written a number of books of fiction and nonfiction. His 1997 book, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997), was an international bestseller and was translated into more than fifteen languages. His book Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea (2006) was the nonfiction winner of the 2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 14, 2021
Abandoned for three reasons:
1. The book-as-object smells pretty bad. Bought new in Hong Kong. I guess it's the glue? Really not sure... mentioning this detail as it's the sort of thing a potential buyer will want to know.
2. The first seventeen pages did not hold my interest. I was skimming everything, and I find it unlikely they will hold my son's.
3. In those seventeen pages (three chapters) there was a lot of terrifying talk about the future of the planet and not a lot of anything about insects, except how the Linnaen system classifies them.
Begin rant: the planet is not in danger. The planet will be here even when all life is gone. It's life as we know it that is in danger... a very important, and also very different, thing. Accuracy matters, particularly when speaking to children. End rant.
Moreover, the best way to interest people (young and old) in saving the insects -- or anything at all -- is to dive right in with how fascinating and beautiful and useful the insects are. I'll take the controversial (?is it, though?) position that introductory lessons about Latinate naming and Charles Darwin is one of the worst ways.
1. The book-as-object smells pretty bad. Bought new in Hong Kong. I guess it's the glue? Really not sure... mentioning this detail as it's the sort of thing a potential buyer will want to know.
2. The first seventeen pages did not hold my interest. I was skimming everything, and I find it unlikely they will hold my son's.
3. In those seventeen pages (three chapters) there was a lot of terrifying talk about the future of the planet and not a lot of anything about insects, except how the Linnaen system classifies them.
Begin rant: the planet is not in danger. The planet will be here even when all life is gone. It's life as we know it that is in danger... a very important, and also very different, thing. Accuracy matters, particularly when speaking to children. End rant.
Moreover, the best way to interest people (young and old) in saving the insects -- or anything at all -- is to dive right in with how fascinating and beautiful and useful the insects are. I'll take the controversial (?is it, though?) position that introductory lessons about Latinate naming and Charles Darwin is one of the worst ways.
December 16, 2019
If the aim of this book was to terrify the reader, then it achieved its purpose. Mark Kurlansky clearly details all the reasons why insects are so important to biodiversity, plants, pollination, and humans. He also explains how badly endangered many species are...and how it's all our fault. From pesticide use to light pollution to habitat loss to climate change, we humans are killing off important bugs. My only criticism of this book is that it's a little light on the suggestions for how to save insects...but maybe that's because we are too far gone? Yikes. He briefly mentions the importance of economic incentives in poor nations so they won't clear important habitats; that struck me as particularly interesting. Returning to biological control of pests would be a difficult transition, but a necessary one since pesticide use is a primary culprit. Overall, this is an excellent (and terrifying) read. Highly recommend for all middle and high school libraries.
August 21, 2019
Bugs in Danger is a wonderful fact-filled nonfiction book that is super informative! Readers will learn about the impact of bees, beetles and butterflies on our ecosystem and how their survival (or possible extinction) will impact our climate. This book will appeal to the ‘bug lover’ for sure but every reader, young and old, will learn important information that has implications now and in the future. Much of the information provided in this book is factual yet the writing is interesting and far from boring. This nonfiction book should be added to every library especially as we face the impacts of climate changes in our world today. This book has the ability to prompt reflection, attention and action related to global climate issues.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishers in exchange for an hob=nest review.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishers in exchange for an hob=nest review.
May 31, 2020
Did you know that not all insects are considered bugs? Bugs are a particular order, Hemptera, which includes insects that suck like bedbugs and aphids. And not all the things we call bugs or insects, like spiders and centipedes, are even insects! Bugs in Danger by Mark Kurlansky is an engaging book full of interesting facts and fiction about the insect world. Explore the fascinating stories of bees, beetles and butterflies in a non-fiction book that reads just like a chapter book. This is the perfect book for that insatiable, budding scientist at home age 9 - 15.
June 6, 2020
Written in clear and simple language this book challenges us to care about insects as much as we care about other endangered species.
There is a worldwide decline in most insects thanks to habitat loss and pesticide use. As life as we know it is impossible without insects, pollinating, digesting, breaking down, aerating soil and a million other essentials, we ignore their demise at our peril.
This is a call to join the good fight for organic agriculture and horticulture and for the preservation of habitat for all species.
There is a worldwide decline in most insects thanks to habitat loss and pesticide use. As life as we know it is impossible without insects, pollinating, digesting, breaking down, aerating soil and a million other essentials, we ignore their demise at our peril.
This is a call to join the good fight for organic agriculture and horticulture and for the preservation of habitat for all species.
October 25, 2021
'Bugs In Danger: Our Vanishing Bees, Butterflies and Beetles' by Mark Kurlansky is a great book. It explains how Insects (and other animals) are declining in numbers around the world and the things that cause that; and how all that effect the environment and biodiversity as a whole.
Although this book is currently in the children's non-fiction area at my public library, it is quite in depth so I would recommend it to an audience of any teens and adults who are interest in Science, especially the areas of Biology, Ecology, Entomology and any other areas that focus on living things.
Although this book is currently in the children's non-fiction area at my public library, it is quite in depth so I would recommend it to an audience of any teens and adults who are interest in Science, especially the areas of Biology, Ecology, Entomology and any other areas that focus on living things.
March 31, 2025
Another excellent book by Kurlansky detailing the life of bugs and insects and why they are important to us. This is a book for young people, but like most other Kurlansky books, the information provided is really useful for adult readers.
May 23, 2020
An easy and informative read that’ll be especially great for younger readers. Walking away with a new understanding of the origin of “honeymoons”, and a complementary craving for mead 🍻🐝 Loved this.
November 19, 2019
Bugs in Danger: Our Vanishing Bees, Butterflies, and Beetles is a children's non fiction book written by Mark Kurlansky and illustrated by Jia Liu. It is currently scheduled for release on November 12 2019.
By now you’ve probably heard that bees are disappearing, and they aren’t the only species at risk. Populations of fireflies, butterflies, and ladybugs have also been declining in recent years. This book explains the growth, spread, and recent declines of each of these four types of insects. It looks at the human causes, like the Baltimore electric company that collected fireflies to attempt to harness their phosphorescent lighting source, to natural occurrences, like the mysterious colony collapse disorder that plagues bee populations. This book makes an effort to show just how much bugs matter to our world.
Bugs in Danger is a well researched, organized, and written nonfiction book. It is fairly dense, to cover all the necessary information, so I would recommend it for middle grade and higher level reader- and adults. I will admit that there were a few moments in the technical explanation about the classifications of life that my eyes and mind wandered a bit. Since this is very early in the book, I worry that some less than dedicated readers might zone out, or maybe just skip ahead. While I have read quite a bit about butterflies and bees, I learned more about those insects and more about critters that I never gave much thought to. There is simply so much information here that I would recommend taking it one section at a time, and I think it would stand up well to multiple revisits. The illustrations are small, and add some visual interest to the read. I found that the text boxes that are scattered through the book also include interesting information and helped break up some of the text. The inclusion of suggestions for what readers can do are doable, I love when authors include the simple things that can help make change, not just the big action. This makes it much more likely that people will make the effort to make some change, and then maybe more as they get comfortable. I liked that the author gave readers a bibliography, that separated out some resources for younger readers and included the most useful website that they know of on the topic.
Bugs in Danger is an extremely informative book about the insects in our world, their importance, and what factors are affecting their decline. I recommend it for readers with interest in the insect world, the environment, and science. It would be an asset to classrooms and libraries.
By now you’ve probably heard that bees are disappearing, and they aren’t the only species at risk. Populations of fireflies, butterflies, and ladybugs have also been declining in recent years. This book explains the growth, spread, and recent declines of each of these four types of insects. It looks at the human causes, like the Baltimore electric company that collected fireflies to attempt to harness their phosphorescent lighting source, to natural occurrences, like the mysterious colony collapse disorder that plagues bee populations. This book makes an effort to show just how much bugs matter to our world.
Bugs in Danger is a well researched, organized, and written nonfiction book. It is fairly dense, to cover all the necessary information, so I would recommend it for middle grade and higher level reader- and adults. I will admit that there were a few moments in the technical explanation about the classifications of life that my eyes and mind wandered a bit. Since this is very early in the book, I worry that some less than dedicated readers might zone out, or maybe just skip ahead. While I have read quite a bit about butterflies and bees, I learned more about those insects and more about critters that I never gave much thought to. There is simply so much information here that I would recommend taking it one section at a time, and I think it would stand up well to multiple revisits. The illustrations are small, and add some visual interest to the read. I found that the text boxes that are scattered through the book also include interesting information and helped break up some of the text. The inclusion of suggestions for what readers can do are doable, I love when authors include the simple things that can help make change, not just the big action. This makes it much more likely that people will make the effort to make some change, and then maybe more as they get comfortable. I liked that the author gave readers a bibliography, that separated out some resources for younger readers and included the most useful website that they know of on the topic.
Bugs in Danger is an extremely informative book about the insects in our world, their importance, and what factors are affecting their decline. I recommend it for readers with interest in the insect world, the environment, and science. It would be an asset to classrooms and libraries.
August 23, 2019
@Kidlitexchange #partner
Thank you to the publisher @bloomsburypublishing and the author #MarkKurlansky for sharing an advance copy of Bugs in Danger: Our Vanishing Bees, Butterflies, and Beetles with the #kidlitexchange network. All opinions are my own.
Kurlansky's book covers the rising problem of the decreasing bee, butterfly, and beetle population. The book is divided into 5 sections: an introduction to the insect world, a section on bees, one on beetles, one on butterflies, and finally a conclusion. The book goes through the history of different species of insects and specifically talks about honeybees, lady bugs, fireflies (which are beetles! something I didn't know), and monarch butterflies. The use of pesticides, collecting insects, and other human involvement (like habitat destruction) are also discussed at length in the book. There is also a huge focus on understanding an ecosystem and how trying to eliminate an unwanted species, like aphids, could be detrimental to another more desired species, like ladybugs.
I learned a lot when reading this book. I was aware of the bee problem, but unaware of the loss of so many other insects. Additionally, I like how the impact of loss of a species is explained in a manner that a middle grade reader can understand. One of the things I love is located in the conclusion where suggestions are made for how the reader can get involved with helping these dwindling species. The book also includes illustrations by Jia Liu which add to the reader's understad and develop a lovely aesthetic for the book. The book is a little direct and to the point and may not pull in all middle grade readers. However, it would be perfect for those interested in science, the environment, or insects. I think this would also make an excellent text for a class focusing on the environment, conservation, or biology in general.
Thank you to the publisher @bloomsburypublishing and the author #MarkKurlansky for sharing an advance copy of Bugs in Danger: Our Vanishing Bees, Butterflies, and Beetles with the #kidlitexchange network. All opinions are my own.
Kurlansky's book covers the rising problem of the decreasing bee, butterfly, and beetle population. The book is divided into 5 sections: an introduction to the insect world, a section on bees, one on beetles, one on butterflies, and finally a conclusion. The book goes through the history of different species of insects and specifically talks about honeybees, lady bugs, fireflies (which are beetles! something I didn't know), and monarch butterflies. The use of pesticides, collecting insects, and other human involvement (like habitat destruction) are also discussed at length in the book. There is also a huge focus on understanding an ecosystem and how trying to eliminate an unwanted species, like aphids, could be detrimental to another more desired species, like ladybugs.
I learned a lot when reading this book. I was aware of the bee problem, but unaware of the loss of so many other insects. Additionally, I like how the impact of loss of a species is explained in a manner that a middle grade reader can understand. One of the things I love is located in the conclusion where suggestions are made for how the reader can get involved with helping these dwindling species. The book also includes illustrations by Jia Liu which add to the reader's understad and develop a lovely aesthetic for the book. The book is a little direct and to the point and may not pull in all middle grade readers. However, it would be perfect for those interested in science, the environment, or insects. I think this would also make an excellent text for a class focusing on the environment, conservation, or biology in general.
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October 28, 2019Bugs in Danger is a testament to biodiversity. Every species is inherently valuable because every species has unique genes. But every species is also interconnected to all other species. When the population of one species is endangered, others are at risk too. Insects make up nearly all 80% of animal species. Unfortunately, insects are in serious danger from habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, human population growth, overharvesting, and climate change, threatening the biodiversity of the planet.
Kurlansky makes this problem personal by noting that the majority of human food crops depend on insect pollinators. He focuses on 3 main pollinators: bees, beetles, and butterflies. For each pollinator section, he manages to pack a lot of information into short chapters, maintaining a conversational tone and breezy pace. The book is adorned with illustrations that evoke pencil sketches in the margins and along the bottom of the page.
Readers will walk away with a new appreciation for the insect world and a greater understanding of biodiversity. Even better, the final chapter includes practical ways to help these creatures and ensure a colorful, delicious future for us all.
Kurlansky makes this problem personal by noting that the majority of human food crops depend on insect pollinators. He focuses on 3 main pollinators: bees, beetles, and butterflies. For each pollinator section, he manages to pack a lot of information into short chapters, maintaining a conversational tone and breezy pace. The book is adorned with illustrations that evoke pencil sketches in the margins and along the bottom of the page.
Readers will walk away with a new appreciation for the insect world and a greater understanding of biodiversity. Even better, the final chapter includes practical ways to help these creatures and ensure a colorful, delicious future for us all.
November 14, 2019
It's no surprise that climate change is resulting in changes in the world around us, making it increasingly challenging for some creatures to live or to adapt to those changes. Author Mark Kurlansky provides a history of bugs and why they should matter to us in this well-written nonfiction book. While the first impulse many humans have toward a bug, is to slap it or stomp it dead, he explains why that isn't the best move for the environment. In addition to offering reasons behind the decline of various species such as bees, ladybugs, and butterflies, he also provides information about how certain bugs were introduced to certain areas and how they have evolved. It's pretty clear that the increased destruction of habitat due to humans clearing land and building is taking a toll on these creatures as is light pollution. Readers may begin the book doubtfully, but will most likely complete it with an entirely different mindset and some specific steps to take to save those precious bugs. It's almost overwhelming to even contemplate the number and variety of bug species in existence now and how scientists are sure there are many that haven't been identified yet. This would be a good addition for a science classroom library although some parts are a bit repetitive.
January 20, 2020
You may have heard some talk about the disappearing bee population (I think I saw a TED Talk about it recently, and I feel like I’ve seen it mentioned in the news, too.), but maybe you didn’t realize that the problem extends to other types of insects, too. Certainly, I didn’t. I also didn’t realize that beetles are responsible for pollinating so many species of plants, either! I guess I had never really thought about it?
BUGS IN DANGER is easy to read, informative, and engaging. It’s a great introduction to insects for people who know almost nothing (like me!) and provides a great overview to how these animals play critical roles in the world. I think it would make a great classroom resource or even a great research source for someone doing a science project about bees, beetles, or butterflies.
Overall, I really recommend reading BUGS IN DANGER. It’s a pretty quick read and a great starting point for understanding how important bees, beetles, and butterflies are to our environment.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
BUGS IN DANGER is easy to read, informative, and engaging. It’s a great introduction to insects for people who know almost nothing (like me!) and provides a great overview to how these animals play critical roles in the world. I think it would make a great classroom resource or even a great research source for someone doing a science project about bees, beetles, or butterflies.
Overall, I really recommend reading BUGS IN DANGER. It’s a pretty quick read and a great starting point for understanding how important bees, beetles, and butterflies are to our environment.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
December 25, 2019
This was definitely written for a teen level even though it is classified as a juvenile book. It is similar to A World Without Fish which is also written by Mark Kurlansky. I loved this book because mentioned my favorite bugs. Kurlansky looks into how each bug/ insect is important to this world and how its disappearance is impacting the world. He discusses invasive species and how they impact local insects and the horrible use of pesticides. An awesome read for not just teens but adults as well, or any bug lover.
July 20, 2019
In this book by Mark Kurlansky, he tackles a topic that is on one hand familiar to young kids yet the information contained between the covers may not be. As an educational tool, it works well but with a few pictures in color, it would have more appeal to kids who are used to playing games on their iPhones. Besides it’s use in the classroom, I can envision a presentation by an entomologist at the local public library.
I received a free book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.
I received a free book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.
October 16, 2019
While I enjoyed the content of this book, unfortunately I cannot fathom my middle schoolers eagerly devouring the well-written material. Kurlansky should take a note from his amazingly week-received “A World Without Fish” which flies off the shelves because of the graphics and text elements. “Bugs in Danger” has all the material and content that would appeal to teen readers but lacks the zest necessary to draw them in.
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September 3, 2019K.N.
November 4, 2019
Some repetition in the facts but overall a good introduction to how insects and environmental care are connected. And how from insects to mammals to humans are all connected
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews