Big Bugs

by Mary Gribbin

As a first introduction to information books, the topics chosen in this series are intended to appeal to young children. Illustrated with bold, strong realistic artwork, each book deals with the theme "big", answering questions such as which is the biggest, the longest, the widest or the heaviest of its kind and how big the animal or object is compared with humans. This book on big bugs describes a number of creepy crawlies such as velvet worms, stick insects, goliath beetles, Hercules beetles, jumping spiders, tarantulas, centipedes, giant African snails and red admiral butterflies. At the end of the book there is a pull-out frieze which shows the floor of a rainforest teeming with all sorts of insects and creepy crawlies.

24 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Mary Gribbin works in education in East Sussex and writes books about science for children. She won The TES Junior Information Book Award for her book Time and the Universe, and has written a series of books for Ladybird. She has also worked with John Gribbin on Being Human, Ice Age, and major biographies of Richard Feynman and Robert FitzRoy, as well as the "in 90 minutes" series of mini-biographies of Galileo, Newton, Halley, Faraday, Darwin, Mendel, Curie, and Einstein.

She has written for a wide range of newspapers and magazines including She, Cosmopolitan, and the Guardian, has a degree in psychology and has worked for twenty years with children of all ages from 4 to 16. In an earlier incarnation, she was at one time the youngest County Councillor in England. Her other interests include floristry, antiques, and interior design.