Charles Darwin, one of history’s most famous naturalists, got his start with beetle hunting!  He had a thing for beetles, and would go to great lengths to collect and study them. 

People who study beetles, remind us that passionate scientists come from passionate kids.  When we value our children’s passions, whether they are transfixed by beetles or dinosaurs, we help foster and nurture inquisitive minds.

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“Line up every kind of plant and animal on Earth . . . and one of every four will be a beetle.” 

THE BEETLE BOOK

STEVE JENKINS – Author and Illustrator

Beetles squeak and beetles glow.
Beetles stink, beetles sprint, beetles walk on water.
With legs, antennae, horns, beautiful shells, knobs, and other oddities—what’s not
to like about beetles?

Jenkins illustrations are beautiful, vibrant collages of  torn and cut paper.   Actual-size silhouettes allow the reader to see the actual sizes of each beetle alongside larger illustrations.  A list of the several dozen featured beetles along with their Latin names and their principal geographic locations appears on a two-page opening at the back.

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The beetle world is vast: one out of every four living things on earth is a beetle.
There are over 350,000 different species named so far and scientists suspect there may
be as many as a million.

From the goliath beetle that weighs one fourth of a pound to the nine inch long
titan beetle, award-winning author-illustrator Steve Jenkins presents a fascinating array
of these intriguing insects and the many amazing adaptations they have made to
survive.

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SAN DIEGO ZOO LINK

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/beetle

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BEETLES IN ART

U. S. POSTAGE STAMPS

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THE SCULPTURE OF JOAN DANZIGER, AMERICAN SCULPTOR

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BEETLE COLLAGE

MATERIALS – Dark colored paper for background, old magazines, catalogs or scrap paper, scissors, glue stick

DIRECTIONS:

1. Choose the paper you want for the abdomen. Cut a square that is about the size you want, fold it in half, and cut half of an acorn bottom shape. Glue to the paper.
2. Repeat this process, finding images/paper you want for  thorax, and head. All are glued to the paper.
3. The legs and eyes can be drawn with a marker or cut from your paper scraps. Note that they are not just one straight line, but that they appear to have “elbows” and “toes” too.

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BEETLE DRAWINGS