This book wasn't as good as others I've read by ICR (Hummy and the Wax Castle), but my six-year-old thoroughly enjoyed it. It is nice to read a book that highlights God's design in creation. We learned several little tidbits but definitely had some lingering questions after reading this book...like what exactly does a bombardier beetle eat. The book mentioned grabbing a bug for a snack at night, but that was the only reference to what they eat other than the fact that they always seemed to be chewing something. We learned a little about their habitat (they like to hide under rocks and seem to come out in the evening ;) The main emphasis was on the bomb blast that they are capable of, but after reading this book twice, I'm still not clear exactly how this works.

It is also worth mentioning that it was unclear in some places as to what was fact and what was fiction. I thought that most animals (especially insects) didn't need to learn survival techniques as they knew them by instinct. However, the book is written such that the father is instructing his son in how to use his bomb. I was left wondering whether the adult beetles truly demonstrate this for their offspring.

In conclusion, this book is probably an okay introduction to the subject, but you'll definitely want to follow it up with something that has a little more substance, and you may want to do a little bit of research ahead of time so that you can help your kids separate the fact from fiction. This book is more of a story than a solid overview of the beetle.

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