With the Frogs Page 4
• In China, people munch fried water beetles as snacks! (Dee-lish! They taste kind of like chips.) In Thailand, water beetles are ground up and turned into a tasty sauce.
• As insects grow, they go through a process called metamorphosis, a word that means “changing form.”
Most insects hatch from eggs as worm-like creatures. As they get bigger, they break out of their exoskeletons. In the final stage before becoming an adult, many insects make a hard case, called a pupa, around themselves for protection. Inside the pupa, they destroy most of their bodies with digestive juices. From the cells that are left, a new body grows in a whole new shape. That’s why a butterfly looks so different from a caterpillar.
• Have you ever noticed that many fish have dark backs and silvery bellies? That’s an example of camouflage! To a predator looking down from above, the water looks dark. The dark color of a fish’s back makes it hard to see. To an underwater predator looking up, the surface of the water looks bright. The light color of a fish’s belly makes it harder to see from below.
• Lightning is extremely dangerous. You should go inside as soon as you know a storm is coming or if you hear thunder, even if you don’t see lightning. Lightning tends to strike tall things, so never hide under a tree.
If you get caught in an open space when lightning is near, never lie down on the ground. Protect yourself with the “lightning crouch.” It’s a little hard to do, so practice the crouch before you need it.
Crouch and balance yourself on your toes. Super important: MAKE SURE YOUR HEELS ARE TOUCHING EACH OTHER! If lightning strikes nearby, electricity will travel up the nearest foot. If your heels are touching, it will travel to the other heel and back down into the ground again. This will keep electricity from damaging the rest of your body. Stay safe!
WHERE TO FIND MORE TRUE STUFF
Want to know more about the weird things that go on in peaceful-looking ponds? Read these!
•One Small Square: Pond by Donald M. Silver (New York: Learning Triangle Press, 1994). Take this book with you to a pond. It will help you to discover and understand the amazing plants and creatures that live in all parts of the pond. You’ll also learn how things change through the day and the seasons.
• Eyewitness: Pond & River (New York: DK Publishing, 2005). This book, with its great pictures, is like a visit to a pond.
• Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005). A fun combination of poems and science about pond creatures.
• Uncover a Frog by Aimee Bakken (San Diego: Silver Dolphin Books, 2006). Want to see what goes on inside a frog without taking one apart? Then this book is for you!
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
JAN GERARDI has illustrated many books for children. She is also an art director and a graphic designer. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and daughter and three dogs.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2008 by J. C. Greenburg
Illustrations copyright © 2008 by Jan Gerardi
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Random House and colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc. Andrew Lost is a trademark of J. C. Greenburg.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Greenburg, J. C. (Judith C.)
With the frogs / by J. C. Greenburg; illustrated by Jan Gerardi. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Andrew Lost; 18) “A Stepping Stone Book.”
Summary: Still reduced to the size of insects, Andrew, Judy, and the robot Thudd go to a pond, where they encounter dragonflies, moss animals, and fierce larvae in an attempt to learn why frogs are disappearing throughout the world.
[1. Ponds—Fiction. 2. Pond animals—Fiction. 3. Insects—Fiction. 4. Size—Fiction. 5. Cousins—Fiction.] I. Gerardi, Jan, ill. II. Title. PZ7.G82785Wj 2008 [Fic]—dc22 2007044402
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
eISBN: 978-0-307-47793-4
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