What to Expect When You're Expecting Larvae: A Guide for Insect Parents (and Curious Kids) (Expecting Animal Babies)

Bridget Heos is the author of 13 young adult nonfiction books and the Expecting Animal Babies picture books. Prior to being a children's book author, she wrote for several newspapers and magazines, including The Christian Science Monitor, The Kansas City Star, and Missouri Lawyers Weekly. Bridget lives in Kansas City with her husband and three sons.

Stéphane Jorisch is an illustrator, whose imaginative work has won many awards, including the prestigious Governor General's Award for Children's Illustration in Canada. His works are produced in watercolor, gouache, and also pen and ink, following in the footsteps of his father who illustrated comic strips for newspapers in Europe. In addition to his books for young people, Stéphane also illustrates for magazines and has created designs for the renowned Cirque de Soleil. Stéphane was born in Brussels and grew up in Lachine, Québec. He now lives in Montreal with his girlfriend and their three children.

"'You must be so excited,' Heos writes―and why wouldn't you be? You're about to give birth to larvae! This consistently amusing entry in the Expecting Animal Babies series presents itself as a reassuring guide for new insect parents and is arranged around Q&As. For example: 'Q. What will my babies look like? Will they resemble their mother or father? A. Surprise! Neither! They will look like worms.' The font size is needlessly small, but Heos' humor conquers all, whether discussing a place to lay eggs ('the dog doo of my dreams!'); urging patience ('You did the same thing when you were young'); and dispensing tough love ('Sorry, fly mommies and daddies. People think your maggots are yucky'). The format makes this more for pleasure than for study, though Heos works in plenty of facts (a sphinx moth multiplies its weight 10,000 times in 16 days!). Jorisch's spindly illustrations feel a bit low-key for such hilarity, but they capably portray the tough but rewarding (?) job of bringing cute little dung-eaters into the world." --Booklist

"A spoof on the popular parenting books, this answers the burning questions of insect parents-to-be and is chock full of fascinating (and sometimes disgusting) facts that are sure to grab human readers' interest. From where to lay the eggs and how many there will be, to what the larvae will eat, what will eat them and how they will stay safe, this covers it all for butterflies, bees, moths, flies, beetles and mosquitoes. Folding in facts comes easily to Heos, for whom this is her first picture book. She manages to pack in explanations of survival, the food chain, camouflage, disguise and metamorphosis. There's even a little history lesson involving beetles and book glue. Throughout, the tongue-in-cheek humor will keep readers engaged, while the facts and vocabulary will please educators. What Jorisch's brilliantly colored insects lack in realism, they more than make up for in personality. The anthropomorphized bugs add to the tongue-in-cheek parody and also provide some great mnemonics for remembering the information presented. Backmatter includes a glossary, selected bibliography and a list of resources for further reading. Lumping together the many insects whose life cycles include the larval stage makes this more of an overview/introduction rather than a resource, but it is a humorous one certain to entertain and maybe even spark some interest." --Kirkus Reviews