A First Book of Bugs
by Simon Mole, illustrated by Adam Ming
Interest age: 4 to 8
Published by Walker Books, 2025
About this book
Did you know that the first animal to ever walk on land was an insect? So was the first animal to fly through the sky. Amazing!
Today, for every human on earth, there are a mind-boggling 1.4 billion insects. In this beautifully illustrated book by Simon Mole and Adam Ming, readers will learn about bugs and minibeasts as diverse as African driver ants, goliath tarantulas, potato bugs, dragonflies, and lots more.
The focus of this book is to demystify insects and encourage young readers to love them, rather than fear them or find them yucky.
Two of the four main sections of the book highlight the beauty and cooperative nature of insects, and there’s lots of celebrating of all the brilliant jobs bugs do for us: acting as natural pest control, helping plants to grow, and much more.
Rather than straight facts, each bug profile is written as a poem on a colourfully illustrated double page spread, meaning that young readers are given some useful information as well as creative language and, often, a rhyme.
Simon Mole also uses poetic devices such as repetition, call and response, alliteration and interactive exclamations such as "eeeek!" and "weeeee", which will be fun for little ones to say along with the adult reading.
About the author
More books like this
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Seek and Find Bugs
by Lydia Halliday, illustrated by Amanda Shufflebotham
5 to 14 years
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Respect the Insect: Meet the bugs who clean, tend and feed the world
by Jules Howard, illustrated by Gosia Herba
5 to 9 years
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Poetry Pizza
by Simon Mole, illustrated by Tom McLaughlin
7 to 11 years
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A First Book of Dinosaurs
by Simon Mole, illustrated by Matt Hunt
4 to 9 years
Lists of recommended reads
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Minibeast booklist
Get your wellies on and prepare to explore the wonderful world of minibeasts that buzzes, slithers, hops and scuttles all around us! We have included non-fiction for keen young biologists, books with exciting stories to inspire curiosity and books with practical activities that are perfect for encouraging outdoor fun.
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Suggested reading for years 1 & 2: Spring term
It's important to continue reading a wide range of books to and with children in Key Stage 1 as they learn to read themselves. This selection aims to hold their interest by including stories, fact books, poetry, comic books and picture books, all with fantastic illustrations. Perfect for sharing together.