Monica Reeve, , Bug Soup Beat, Forty South Publishing, April 2019, 32 pp., RRP $24.95, ISBN 9780987628954
As night descends, myriad bugs emerge to feast on any tasty morsel they can find in the garden. Mosquitos, scorpions, centipedes, worms and snails enjoy their supper/soup while with their silky thread the spiders weave a sign for the Moth Motel that is strung between the trees. The story is told in rhyming couplets but it is the lively word play that makes this an ideal book to read aloud: ‘falling, flirting, darting, gliding’ the bugs continue ‘crunching, slurping, gulping and sipping’ throughout the evening. The text and colourful illustrations are effectively presented on glossy black paper but the highlight must surely be the fabulous endpapers, those at the front of the book depicting the flying bugs while the back ones show the ground-based bugs. Each element of this picture book demonstrates Monica Reeve’s experience as an author and illustrator.
Highly recommended. Age 2-6
Reviewed by Elizabeth Douglas