Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!

A lively and colorful animated adaptation of author/illustrator Bob Barner's 1999 collage cut-out children's book, Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! features Crystal Taliefero's spoken/sung interpretation of Barner's rhymed-couplets ode (“a fuzzy caterpillar with tiny feet/bees buzzing by flowers that smell so sweet”) to various members of the insect kingdom, including butterflies, ladybugs, daddy long-legs, grasshoppers, and roly-poly bugs (also called pill bugs—although technically they are neither, since they're crustaceans). After the fun song, a “Meet the Bugs!” educational segment offers facts about each of the bugs profiled (telling viewers, for instance, that ladybugs are actually beetles). Sporting a read-along option, DVD extras include a “Bug-O-Meter” interactive Q&A feature, as well as an interview with the author (who talks about his love of science—also evident in his other books on dinosaurs and stars). A 2009 ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Video selection, this is recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)