The title of this photo-illustrated nonfiction picture book sets the tone for the snappy text. The opening intrigues: “What’s that? You don’t know what a moth ball is? Please come anyway. You can learn as we go.” And the closing satisfies: “When you’ve learned all you can and you’re ready to rest … whisper your thanks to all the moths that stopped by tonight. Wasn’t that a ball?”
In between, Ellen Harasimowicz contributes a mix of candid photos of children—hanging sheets, painting rotten bananas on fences, and observing with headlights—and close-ups of the moths that arrive. Readers will eagerly turn the pages all the way to the detailed back matter that ensures the success of duplicating the book’s events.
For author Loree Griffin Burns, this book required far less toughness than her account of her fascinating Icelandic adventure, Life on Surtsey. What her books have in common is well described on the jacket flap—she “draws heavily on her passion for nature and her experience as a working scientist.”
Ruth Kirk, Author for Children 