The Gentleman Bug

by Julian Hector, Julian Hector (Illustrator)

Overview

The Gentleman Bug is perfectly content leading his quiet life in a Victorian garden as a schoolteacher and bookworm. He doesn’t even mind the ceaseless teasing from the more dapper bugs. But everything changes when the Lady Bug arrives in town. The Gentleman Bug falls legs over antennae for her at first sight. But how will he get her to notice him? Rising star Julian Hector’s charming text and adorable illustrations will have readers rooting for the Gentleman Bug as he endures a series of mishaps and a failed makeover in his quest to win his fair librarian Lady Bug’s heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442441026
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	07/12/2011
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	57 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Author-illustrator Julian Hector was born in Los Angeles, grew up in rural Texas, and graduated from Parsons the New School for Design in New York City. His debut picture book, The Little Matador, was published in 2008. Julian lives in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and you can visit him online at www.julianhector.com.

Editorial Reviews

Hector follows up Little Matador (2008) with another simply told take on the value of staying true to oneself. Outfitting an all-insect cast in frilly gowns, top hats and like dress from centuries past, he creates a comfy setting for his tale of a smitten teacher-(almost) literally and figuratively a bookworm-who exchanges his casual dress for more formal clothing in an effort to be noticed by a newly arrived Lady Bug. Disaster ensues, and the Gentleman Bug flees home in massive embarrassment. As it turns out, he needn't have bothered with a makeover, because shortly thereafter the town's new library opens and its librarian is none other than . . . guess who? The two bond instantly over their shared love of reading and are last seen sitting together with bookish intimacy on a picnic blanket spread beneath nodding garden flowers. The author relies a little too heavily on details in the pictures to fill out his sketchy text, but he artfully uses subdued colors, elegant lines and generous quantities of space to lend low-key grace to each scene. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

Thoughtful, scholarly Gentleman Bug and his colleagues inhabit the Garden, an Edwardian town, and it's the contrast between the multilegged creatures and their period costumes that supplies the book's quiet humor. (The Garden is laid out on a map on the endpapers, labeled with locations like Bugadilly Circus and Pollen Hill.) The Gentleman Bug, a teacher of juvenile bugs, falls for Lady Bug; in a sort of anti-Cinderella scene, he appears at a ball in a dapper suit and top hat to impress her. “The rest of the evening didn't go quite as planned,” Hector (The Little Matador) writes as the bug collides with a waiter. Lady Bug is a librarian, it turns out, and their mutual love of reading draws them together in the end. The fact that the romance unfolds in public reduces the mush factor, and even smaller children will sympathize: “Safe at home, he tried to forget about the Lady Bug, but it was a very hard thing to do.” The combination of an elaborately imagined community and a pared-down plot and text makes this a fine choice for the very young. Ages 2-5. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Subdued colors, elegant lines and generous quantities of space to lend low-key grace to each scene.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Hector’s crisp, utterly charming watercolor-and-colored-pencil illustrations have a classic, timeless feel.” —Booklist

“The combination of an elaborately imagined community and a pared-down plot and text makes this a fine choice for the very young.” —Publishers Weekly

“[Hector’s] charmingly simple story will delight young insect lovers, and its bibliophilic ending is perfect.” –Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Review

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 2—Populated by a variety of grasshoppers, wasps, bees, and other bugs in Edwardian-style clothing, a British-looking village provides the setting for Hector's odd love tale. The Gentleman Bug, described as a bookworm and dressed in what appears to be scout attire, finds that his life takes a new turn with the arrival of Lady Bug. Determined to attract her attention, he changes his style, turning himself into a dapper fellow sporting striped pants, vest, cravat, and top hat. Lady Bug is not impressed. Then Gentleman Bug gets invited to the opening of the new library, where he meets the librarian (aka Lady Bug) and the two read happily together ever after. This slight but sweet story has a diverse insect cast, pleasing colors and detail, and a bookish theme.—Barbara Elleman, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA

School Library Journal