Reviews

Buzzkill: A Wild Wander Through the Weird and Threatened World of Bugs by Brenna Maloney, Dave Mottram

dom0811's review

adventurous challenging funny informative medium-paced

5.0

A really great book. a must read for EVERYONE.

rogue_leader's review against another edition

funny informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

breakfastgrey's review

3.0

This book is excellent; it’s just too long. I learned a massive number of cool factlets, but I’m not really sure I learned anything big or left changed in any way. As such, I’m not sure that it works for its target audience. The group that would take something big from it is likely the group who would lose interest because of the repetition and frequent detours. It just needs a stronger editorial hand.

lifeasmrsbaker's review

5.0

This is a very cute and informative book about bugs. I found the facts to be especially engaging for young learners - and some were very unique- as an adult I even learned things from this book. This is a great addition to any elementary aged STEM library.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

kristi_starr35's review

4.0

In the vein of Mary Roach, Maloney tackles a topic that many people might find disturbing and explains exactly why said topic is not only interesting but critical to understanding the world around us. Solid facts and funny stories impart to the reader the roles that our many six-legged friends play in the environment and why their survival matters.

cdeane61's review

5.0

Target audience is YA but don't let that deter you, this is a fascinating and fact filled book that touches on insects and their world as much as it can.

Also does a great job fitting them into the bigger picture, and emphasizing how important they are to the function of the planet.

Some authors feel like they are trying to hard when they add humor to their works, but Maloney is genuinely funny and a joy to read.

Highly recommended.

lee_hillshire's review

I wanted to like this book. I love insects, and I did learn some things that I didn't know before, which is really neat. But the author's style wasn't really up my alley. "Conversational" author straight addressing the reader has never been my thing, and immediately pulls me out of the story. But I can definitely see how this would be a great book for people who don't mind that writing style, and want to learn new things about the wonderful world that is insects. 

mrswriterchick's review

Very promising, very funny, but also very long. 

librarypatronus's review

5.0

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Children’s for the ARC of this!

This conversational, snarky, fun to read insect book was good for all ages of insect lover. While it says it’s for ages 10-14, I think a strong younger reader (or one being read to) could definitely tackle this, but it didn’t read as particularly young either and an older teen or adult could easily read it and not notice it was a YA book. I’ve read a couple non-fiction books about insects and extinction lately and this had a good mix of facts I was familiar with, new ideas, and anecdotes.

geauxgetlit's review

5.0

My phobia of bugs has always been with me and I still get shivers thinking about them crawling on me or buzzing near my ears.
I love learning about nature and science and I have passed this love onto my 10 year old also.
He loves to learn and I hoped this book would be a fun summer reading addition. It turned out it was the best book for both of us!!
Loaded with information and pictures, this was a great tool to help us identify many creepy things. He gained solid basic biology knowledge and I gained less fear.

Win-Win for all!!