Huh? Talking Insects: How Living Things Communicate

Book Review of Huh? Talking Insects: How Living Things Communicate
The Children’s Book Review

What to Expect: Insect communication, animal biology, STEM learning, hands-on experiments, humor.

An energetic and highly interactive science book that introduces young readers to the fascinating, noisy, and often hidden world of insect communication.

Have you ever wondered who is responsible for the symphony of buzzes, chirps, and clicks echoing through your backyard? Huh? Talking Insects: How Living Things Communicate invites curious minds to listen closely to the diverse “languages” of the insect world. From periodical cicadas emerging after 17 years underground to bees performing a “waggle dance” to share directions to the sweetest nectar, readers get to discover how tiny creatures use vibrations, body parts, and chemical signals to talk to one another. As they follow along with real-life entomologists, they will decode these secretive insect conversations, learning how vital these little chatterboxes are to our planet’s survival.

Author Joyce Markovics delivers an outstanding masterclass in how to write engaging non-fiction for children. The voice is wonderfully enthusiastic, accessible, and spiked with kid-friendly humor—such as comparing a bee’s dance to “twerking” or describing treehopper honeydew coming out of their butts as “gross!” By integrating real, active scientists like Dr. Samuel “Sammy” Ramsey and Dr. Laurel Symes, the text makes scientific discovery feel like a living adventure rather than a static list of facts. Complex terms are seamlessly handled through helpful in-text phonetic pronunciations (such as stridulation (strij-uh-LEY-shuhn)), and the back-of-book inclusions—like a hands-on experiment, a robust glossary, and a research index—elevate its educational value immensely.

While the book primarily utilizes vibrant photography rather than traditional hand-drawn illustrations, the visual layout is brilliantly executed to capture and hold a child’s attention. The design by Ed Morgan relies on a clean, professional structure interspersed with energetic, comic-strip style speech bubbles emerging from the insects themselves (such as a bee saying, “We BEE-long together!”). The “PSST!” sidebars provide excellent visual “speed bumps” that deliver bite-sized, fascinating trivia, which is perfect for reluctant readers who might otherwise get overwhelmed by large blocks of text.

A must-have resource that will be most thoroughly enjoyed by elementary school students, budding young scientists, and any child who loves exploring the creepy-crawly wonders of their own backyard. Huh? Talking Insects is a triumphant, high-interest non-fiction book that effortlessly balances laughter and learning.

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About the Author

Joyce Markovics has written over 500 nonfiction children’s books—or at least two giraffe-sized stacks. She’s wild about insects, especially the more unusual ones, such as Brazilian treehoppers with their helicopter-like helmets. Telling stories is one of Joyce’s greatest passions, and few things are more fascinating to her than the natural world. She lives in historic Ossining, New York, with her favorite human.