Tiny Creepy Crawlers

Turner highlights small but mighty creatures—including ticks, fleas, lice, millipedes, and tapeworms—in one of four titles kicking off the Crazy Creepy Crawlers series, illustrated through a combination of photographs and comics-style sequences. Highly magnified images of the microscopic creatures reveal the fine details on their pincers, legs, antennae, and outer shells, while captions and bursts deliver facts about their habits, characteristics, and surprising abilities (“A flea can jump 30,000 times nonstop”). The bugs reappear in Calle’s comics, which are filled with science-based gags and one-liners. “Ah, food!... Oh no, wait, that’s just me,” says a centipede looking at its own tail, after readers learn that the arthropods “don’t mind a bit of cannibalism.” It’s an irreverent but informative introduction to some impressive specimens that slither, creep, crawl, and bite. Simultaneously available: Extraordinary Insects, Flying Creepy Crawlies, and Deadly Spiders. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)

This review has been updated to reflect the appropriate age-range.