“This well-conceived introduction is one of Gibbons’s most attractive and informative presentations to date. Her colorful, realistically painted watercolors, enhanced with black ink outline and detail and some crayon highlighting, fill every page with larger-than-life images, and they’re as much a source of information as the fact-filled text. . . . This simply written, clearly organized, thoroughly researched and exceptionally illustrated volume should be a first purchase for most libraries.”
—School Library Journal

“Surprising facts (ladybugs play dead to discourage potential predators) underscore Gibbons’s educational but nondidactic approach.”
—Publishers Weekly

“The book presents [this beetle’s] body parts, food, development, predators, defenses, and protection from cold weather. . . . Bright and informative.”
—Booklist