Cicada Symphony

by Sue Fliess, Gareth Lucas (Illustrator)

Overview

2024 ALA Notable Children's Book
2024 Texas 2x2 Reading List
2023 Chicago Public Library Best Informational Books for Younger Readers
2023 Blueberry Honor Award

STARRED REVIEW! "Fliess informs while maintaining a light, adoring tone that reveals cicadas' remarkableness."—Publishers Weekly starred review

Eeee-ooo! Eeee-ooo! Cicadas drone on, clicking and buzzing from dusk till dawn.

There are about three thousand different kinds of cicadas on earth. Some species emerge from the ground every year, while others only come up every thirteen or seventeen years. But no matter how much time passes before they dig their way to the surface, the result is the same: up to trillions of clumsy (but harmless!) insects flying, clicking, and buzzing all around us. Using a combination of rhythmic, rhyming verse and fun facts, this story describes the life cycle of the cicada and helps readers better understand this fascinating insect.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807511619
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	05/11/2023
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	26,253
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sue Fliess is the award-winning, bestselling author of more than fifty children's books including Cicada Symphony, The Earth Gives More, and the Kid Scientist series. Her books have been named to notable lists and translated into multiple languages. Sue lives in Northern Virginia.

Gareth Lucas is an illustrator and designer living in Essex, England. He studied at Brighton and Central Saint Martin’s Art Schools, and since graduating he has worked as a full-time artist, illustrating many well-loved books—all with the natural world at their center. Gareth combines digital processes with a colorful palette and a charming style to produce work that is joyful and exuberant.

Editorial Reviews

★ 06/19/2023

Euphonic rhyming couplets sing in praise of cicadas alongside details about their life cycle in this vibrant picture book. Beginning pages present purply yellow nymphs waiting underground until they surface and molt. “A newly emerged adult cicada looks almost alien,” describes one straightforward snippet, while rhymes elaborate: “Plump cicada, milky-white,/ gleams and glistens in the light./ Veins turn orange, soon complete./ Blue-black body. Clawlike feet.” Feeding (and being fed on), flying, and mating proceed until the cycle begins anew. The insects’ forms and beady red eyes aptly fill the pages of Lucas’s bold artwork, which bursts with chromatic coloring and geometric layers. Conveying the volume of males’ distinctive songs to the bugs’ innate clumsiness, Fliess informs while maintaining a light, adoring tone that reveals cicadas’ remarkableness. A glossary and author’s note conclude. Ages 4–8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

2024 ALA Notable Children's Book
2024 Texas 2x2 Reading List
2023 Chicago Public Library Best Informational Books for Younger Readers
2023 Blueberry Honor Award

STARRED REVIEW! "Fliess informs while maintaining a light, adoring tone that reveals cicadas' remarkableness."—Publishers Weekly starred review

From the Publisher