Chirping Crickets by Melvin Berger, Megan Lloyd (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

That's the sound crickets make. You've probably heard them chirp on a summer evening. But did you know that they make their chirping sounds by rubbing their wings together, and that only male crickets can chirp?

Inside this book you'll learn about crickets, and even how to tell the temperature by counting a cricket's chirps.

Melvin Berger and Megan Lloyd have created a wonderful introduction to a fascinating insect: the cricket.

Children's Literature

Text and illustrations provide information about the life cycle, anatomy, and behavior (including the chirping) of several varieties of crickets. The attractive, atmospheric illustrations include some dramatic close-ups. Hands-on activities include advice on caring for a pet cricket, making a model, telling temperature with a cricket, and making a chirping sound, and jumping like a cricket. This title is considered a Stage 2 in the "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science" series.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2--A general introduction to the physical characteristics, life cycle, and behavior of this insect. The text is clear and simple but the sentences are occasionally choppy. The full-page, rainbow-hued watercolors are accurately rendered and do a good job of representing the text. Readers' curiosity is sure to be piqued by the inclusion of interesting facts (a cricket's chirping can be used to determine the temperature outside). A final section offers suggestions for making a model, jumping like a cricket, and playing a "Do You Know?" game. An attractive title that will enhance nature collections.--Michele Snyder, Chappaqua Public Library, NY

Kirkus Reviews

To human listeners, cricket songs announce that summer can't last forever; their evening chirps forecast falling leaves, cooler temperatures, and the start of school in the not-so-distant future. But for crickets, chirping is the mating song of male crickets, rubbing their front wings together, which females "hear" through membranes on their knees. These familiar insects seem a natural subject for the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series; Berger (How Life Began, 1991, etc.) describes their life cycles and their basic anatomy in an accessible, lively way. Lloyd's pictures are large and colorful; captions point out the knee ears and the sound-producing parts of the wings. Easy projects are included, as is a tidy formula for figuring out the temperature from the number of cricket chirps per minute. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9)

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