Face to Face with Butterflies - a gift for young naturlaists (ages 8 - 12)

Do you have a young naturalist? How many times have you been at a soccer game when some kid seems more fascinated by the bugs crawling around in the grass than the game at the other end of the field? Bugs fascinate kids! Continuing our Ways to Give a Book, this holiday why not give your budding nature-lover a butterfly net and Face to Face with Butterflies, published by the National Geographic Society.

Face to Face with Butterflies
by Darlyne Murawski
D.C.: National Geographic, 2010
ages 8 - 12
available on Amazon and at your local public library

This series by National Geographic use bold, bright photographs and personal stories of scientists and photographers in the field to engage children. Face to Face with Butterflies provides interesting, clear factual information about butterflies: how they eat, how they compete with each other for food, how they migrate across large distances. The writing is crisp and clear, and provides a nice detailed introduction for bug-loving kids. Side-bars, like "how to attract butterflies" and "how to plant a butterfly garden" provide extra information. Murawski is a noted photographer and biologist who specializes in butterflies and other insects.

A butterfly net is essential equipment if you want to study butterflies up close.As Face to Face with Butterflies explains, it is important to never touch a butterfly's wings. A butterfly net will allow you to catch a butterfly and observe it up close before releasing it or transferring it to a small screened enclosure. And what fun for a young naturalist to have their own butterfly net!

Two other books I'm very interested in, but have not seen yet are:
Flight of the Butterflies, by Roberta Edwards - an introduction to the migration of the Monarchs, part of the All Aboard Reading series for beginning readers. New readers are fascinated by animals, and I'm really looking forward to seeing this.
Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian, by Margarita Engle - a picture book biography of the young German girl who observed caterpillars transforming into butterflies in the 1600s.

For more nonfiction, head over to Playing By the Book for the Nonfiction Monday roundup from across the Kidlitosphere. Lots of great resources!

The review copy of Face to Face with Butterflies was kindly sent by the publisher. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion will go to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you). Thank you for your support.