29 Bug Books For Kids

Bee: A Peek-Through Picture Book by Britta Teckentrup

Peek into this bright and lively book and discover the big ways this little insect contributes to the beauty of the environment, from pollinating colorful flowers to buzzing about the bright and beautiful meadow.

Ages 3 – 7 | Pages 32

Butterfly Park by Elly Mackay

When a little girl moves to a new town, she finds a place called Butterfly Park. But when she opens the gate, there are no butterflies. Determined to lure the butterflies in, the girl inspires her entire town to help her. She realizes that she must add flowers to the park to welcome the butterflies to the park. The paper-cut illustrations complement the lovely story as well.

Ages 3 – 6 | Pages 40

Save The Bees by Bethany Stahl

The book tells the story of three friends working together to make Clover’s pollination route easier! It has great illustrations and provides a lesson for kids to consider the importance of bees and pollinators in our ecosystem.

Ages Baby – 10 | Pages 31

Give Bees a Chance by Bethany Barton

Not sure whether to love bees or be afraid of them? Learn from this silly narrator how extra special and important bees are to the world, and even to humankind. Besides making yummy honey, they help plants grow fruits and vegetables. And most bees wouldn’t hurt a fly (unless it was in self-defense!). With bees officially on the endangered animals list, it’s more important now than ever to get on board with our flying, honey-making friends!

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 40

Bizz Buzz Boss by Natalie McKinnon

In this story about so many creatures in a garden, one bossy bee thinks she’s in charge. But the other bugs in the garden play a trick on her to help her realize that everyone plays an important role in the garden and she should be nicer to her neighbors.

Ages 3 – 6 | Pages 36

Busy Buzzers Bees in Your Backyard by Nancy Loewen

This pretty picture book helps children understand the importance of bees in our yards and gardens. In an engaging story with nice illustrations, the author also includes a fun fact about bees on each page. Even I learned a lot.

Ages 4 – 9 | Pages 24

The Beeman by Laurie Krebs

Written as a poem, a little boy shares all about his grandfather, who is known in town as the Beeman, and the things the boy and his grandfather do together to care for the beehives. Healthy land relies on many components, one of which is a healthy and flourishing bee population. My boys and I really loved this book a lot, and my older son asked to read it many times.

Ages 5 – 8 | Pages 40

Follow That Bee: A First Book of Bees In The City by Scot Ritchie

A group of friends offers to help their neighbor, a beekeeper, look after his hive. Throughout their journey, they learn all about honeybees and how important they are for our food supply. They also learn how bee colonies work and some common challenges bee populations currently face that humans can help overcome.

Ages 4 – 7 | Pages 32

The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall

Buzz from flower to flower with a sweet honeybee in this lovely book with gorgeous illustrations. Written in prose, it’s a fun story about the days of a honeybee dancing from flower to flower.

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 48

Bailee the Bumblebee by Karen Benedict

Bailee the Bumblebee takes readers on a colorful journey into her busy day pollinating flowers, berries, and fruit. This book is the perfect introduction to bees and their vital role in nature. It is sure to inspire the next generation of eco citizens to help protect Bailee and her bee family, by growing native plants and flowers in our backyards and helping our fluffy pollinators to thrive!

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 25

A Place For Butterflies by Melissa Stewart

Once abundant monarch butterflies are disappearing in the U.S.…but that’s only part of the story. Many other butterfly species are also in trouble, and human action is often the cause of their plight.

This book showcases twelve North American butterflies and the ecosystems that support their survival. The simple narrative states the dangers that each of these butterfly populations faces and informative sidebars describe the efforts of people to save them.

This book is 1 of 6 in a prize-winning series of A Place For… books that also offers a teacher’s guide. Check out A Place for Bats, A Place For Birds, A Place for Fish, A Place For Frogs, and A Place For Turtles.

Ages 6 – 10 | Pages 32

The Amazing Life Cycle of Butterflies by Kara Barnham

This book is full of facts about the butterfly and should field any and all questions your little one can come up with about butterflies. As an added bonus there are notes for teachers and parents to help promote further reading on the topic.

Ages 5 – 8 | Pages 32

Isabel’s House of Butterflies by Tony Johnston

Eight-year-old Isabel loves the oyamel tree that grows outside her home. Every autumn, Isabel’s tree is the wintering place for thousands of monarch butterflies that migrate from the north and transform Isabel’s tree into La casa de las mariposas-The House of Butterflies.

But this wonder is in danger of disappearing forever. Isabel’s family is poor, and it has been a cruel, dry year for Papa’s meager crop of corn and beans. Soon, chopping down the tree to sell its wood may be the family’s only hope for survival. What will happen to the butterflies then?

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 32

Butterflies for Kids: A Junior Scientist’s Guide to the Butterfly Life Cycle and Beautiful Species to Discover by Lauren Davidson

In this book, learn how chubby caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies and why some butterflies have bright, colorful wings while others look plain. Learn about the butterfly life cycle, their unusual behaviors, and impressive migrations. You’ll even find tips for attracting butterflies to your backyard and using a kit to raise your own.

Ages 6 – 9 | Pages 82

A Butterfly Is Patient by Dianna Aston

An incredible variety of butterflies are celebrated here in all of their beauty and wonder, from the tiny Arian Small Blue to the grand Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing.

Ages 5 – 8 | Pages 40

Worm Weather by Jean Taft

Join in the rainy-day fun as kids splash through the puddles, affecting another weather enthusiast, a nearby worm.

Ages 3 – 5 | Pages 32

Worm Loves Worm by J. J. Austrian

Did you know that all worms are hermaphrodites and have both male and female reproductive organs? This book tells the story of two worms who fall in love and can’t decide who’s the bride or groom. In lots of ways, these worms challenge understandings about falling in love and getting married. Although I think this book is written to highlight the gender neutrality of worms, it also struck me as a great discussion starter for gender identity and non-heterosexual marriage.

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 32

Diary of A Worm by Doreen Cronin

This is the diary of a worm. This worm lives with his parents, plays with his friends, and even goes to school. But unlike you or me, he never has to take a bath, he gets to eat his homework, and because he doesn’t have legs, he just can’t do the hokey pokey—no matter how hard he tries.

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 40

Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer

Crawling through the dirt, worms are hard at work. Worms help the fruit and vegetables we eat by loosening the soil and feeding the plants. Read and find out about these wiggling wonders!

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 40

Good Trick Walking Stick by Sheri Mabry Bestor

From eggs buried in an ant colony under the winter snow to the shedding of exoskeletons to growing a replacement appendage, the amazing insect introduced in this book will fascinate budding entomologists and nature lovers of all ages.

Ages 6 – 8 | Pages 32

The Bug Girl: A True Story by Sophia Spencer

Sophia Spencer has loved bugs ever since a butterfly landed on her shoulder at a butterfly conservancy when she was only two-and-a-half years old. She loved sharing her love for bugs with friends, but her classmates didn’t always appreciate her interest.

Sophia’s mother helped her connect with an entomological society, and she received lots of letters and videos encouraging her to pursue her passion. Check out this book for more details about her adventure to learn about what she loves even if her peers don’t always understand her.

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 44

Evelyn the Adventurous Entomologist: The True Story of a World-Traveling Bug Hunter by Christine Evans

Back in 1881, when Evelyn Cheesman was born, English girls were expected to be clean and dressed in frilly dresses. But Evelyn crawled in dirt and collected glow worms in jars. Evelyn grew up and took charge of the London Zoo insect house, filling it with crawling and fluttering specimens and breathing life back into the dusty exhibits. She embarked on eight solo expeditions to distant islands and collected over 70,000 insect specimens, discovered new species, tangled with sticky spider webs, and tumbled from a cliff.

Inspire children to believe in their dreams and blaze their own trail with the story of Evelyn’s amazing life and learn about her wonderful contributions to better understanding our ecosystems and the insects that live in them!

Ages 5 – 10 | Pages 40

Mrs. Peanuckle’s Bug Alphabet by Mrs. Peanuckle

Mrs. Peanuckle’s Bug Alphabet introduces babies and toddlers to all sorts of interesting bugs. Perfect to read aloud, this creepy, crawly adventure will engage children and parents alike with its vibrant illustrations and fascinating facts about bugs.

Ages Baby – 3 | Pages 28

Hello, World! Backyard Bugs by Jill McDonald

Young children love to look at bugs. Here’s a Hello, World! board book that teaches toddlers all about the insects in their backyards—with colors, sounds, sizes, and super-simple facts.

Ages Baby – 3 | Pages 26

The Big Book of Bugs (The Big Book Series) by Yuval Zommer

From moths and beetles to worms and spiders, the world is crawling with fascinating bugs. The Big Book of Bugs is the first fact-filled book for children to explore the vast array of creepy-crawlies that share our Earth. The silly text works well with colorful illustrations of all types of bugs and insects that kids will love to explore.

This book is part of a series that also includes The Big Book of Birds and The Big Book of Blooms.

Ages 3 – 5 | Pages 64

There Are Bugs Everywhere by Britta Teckentrup

There are bugs everywhere! Some of them live in jungles, some of them underwater, and some certainly live in your house. This fun story with colorful illustrations introduces readers to all the bugs around us and reinforces that they are wonderful and weird.

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 32

The Backyard Bug Book for Kids: Storybook, Insect Facts, and Activities by Lauren Davidson

Go an adventure with bugs while also learning all about them. This book includes a story, lots of pictures, and activities to learn about bugs, butterflies, ladybugs, grashoppers, dragonflies, and more.

Ages 3 – 5 | Pages 48

I’m Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton

Don’t be afraid of spiders. Learn about all the amazing things spiders do for us, why they are so neat and not scary at all.

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 40

Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington

Charles Henry Turner was the first Black entomologist. From a young age, he was fascinated by plants, and animals, and bugs. And even when he faced racial prejudice, Turner did not stop wondering. He constantly read, researched, and experimented to learn more about bugs in his world.

Ages 7 – 10 | Pages 48

Cicada Symphony by Lisa Kobman

This book explains the complicated and fascinating life cycle of the 17-year cicada (Brood X) in a way a preschooler and elementary-aged child can understand and connect with. It has great illustrations and a fun storyline.

Ages 4 – 8 | Pages 36