“We once lived in a woodland that was infested by gypsy moths … They covered our roof, our walkway, and our road. Passing cars would actually skid and slide on gooey mashed caterpillars.” Jim Arnosky’s conversational tone, and his obvious fascination with insects and spiders, draws readers into this informative work in which each page spread provides a one-page narrative of intriguing facts about a different group of insects or spiders, along with a full-color painting of a creature belonging to that group. Black-and-white field notebook sketches embellish each page of text, some of which fold out so that the verso becomes part of a multi-page, full-color display featuring additional examples of that type of creature. Arnosky concludes with an author’s note on heading out into the wild, and a bibliography for further reading. (Ages 7–12)

In his fourth stunning nonfiction picture book for Sterling Children's Books, acclaimed naturalist and illustrator Jim Arnosky brings out the beauty--and the “wow!” and the “yuck!” factors--of hundreds of insects and spiders. Eight spectacular gatefolds show moths and mosquitoes, butterflies and beetles, spiders and silverfish life-size, up-close, and personal! A CCBC Choice 2013, the annual best-of-the-year list of the Cooperative Children's Book Center.