This deep dive into the fascinating, icky, beautiful, gruesome, and incredible world of insects teaches us to love the inconspicuous, disgusting, and annoying creatures all around us. Whether he’s telling stories of gilding the rear ends of cockroaches in gold to study them under a microscope, setting up tape recorders in the depths of the Amazon rainforest to document the sounds of crickets, renting a troupe of giant Madagascar hissing cockroaches...

"Newbery-Honor winning author Joyce Sidman explores the extraordinary life and scientific discoveries of Maria Merian, who discovered the truth about metamorphosis and documented the science behind the mystery in this visual biography that features many original paintings by Maria herself."--