Interesting. Kids will like this and find it fascinating I'm sure. Unique. Not the typical bug book.

Megabugs by Helaine Becker explores seven gigantic ancestors to our six-legged friends today. Conditions in the past made it easy for bugs to grow to massive size. Dragonflies long as your arm. Centipedes long as a man is tall. Hard to imagine, isn't it? Thankfully, these critters lived eons in the past, long before humans. Each critter has its own section, exploring the time it lived in, the region, how big it could get,can't what little we know or suspect about behaviour. There are subsections looking at pertinent topics like the Permian Extinction. Overall, well-written, with an excellent glossary/suggested reading section at the end. An excellent addition to any bug-lover's collection!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Megabugs: And Other Prehistoric Critters That Roamed the Planet, written by Helaine Becker and illustrated by John Bindon, is currently scheduled for release on October 1 2019. Can you imagine a bug the size of a small crocodile? How about one bigger than a large basketball player? As scary as it may seem, supersized, insect-like critters such as these roamed Earth long before humans. In this peek into prehistory, award-winning science writer Helaine Becker introduces seven of these megabugs, the ancestors of modern-day insects, spiders, crabs and other arthropods, which lived from 480 million to 47 million years ago. The book explores when, where, and how they each lived, why they grew so big and what caused their extinction. Highly realistic illustrations show each megabug in its habitat. Each spread features one animal and loads of visuals --- such as a size chart that shows how big the animal could grow, a timeline placing it in its geological period and a map of where its fossils have been discovered. Sidebars provide further context on such topics as adaptation, fossils and the Permian Extinction.

Megabugs is a very well written and informative book that hits a great balance. It is high interest with very accessible writing that does not talk down to readers or feel condescending due to the ease of reading. This can be a hard balance to strike, but I think they hit it perfectly here. I thought I had a good understanding of the critters that have, or currently, live on our planet due to my daughter's animal obsession and the amount of documentaries and non fiction reads we have shared. However, I did learn quite a bit from reading this, and had some of my understanding confirmed or expanded on. The organization of creatures of the past, today, and possibilities of creatures of tomorrow was good- and I liked seeing the size comparisons. I liked the charts and detailed diagrams of the creatures discussed- and found the illustrations of the creatures in their habitats to be very realistic and bold.I sometimes had to stop and just admire the skill and detail in the images and graphs because they were just that well done. I thought the inclusion of a detailed glossary, suggestions for further reading, and index were important, and are sadly skipped too often. I think this book would be valuable for a wide range of interested readers.

Megabugs is a great non fiction book for children and adults that have any interest in the history, present, and future of the creatures others might consider creepy crawlies. It is very well done and holds up well to multiple reads.

This is a book about superbugs that are now extinct. Many of these bugs were between 2-8 ft tall/long. Facts are given for each kind of bug, such as how big they were, where they could be found, what they would eat and their habitat. Many also included reasons they may have become extinct.

The illustrations are interesting.

This would appeal to middle graders interested in facts about arthropods or extinct animals.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

I was a tad bummed I couldn't download a kindle version, as that's highly preferred.. but.. on to the book itself.

informative, great illustrations. my kids and i both loved this book.

A humungous, eight-foot long millipede-like creature, and a scorpion that was two foot six long, are just some of the monsters to be seen in this superlative guide to Paleozoic arthropods. The book presents them all equally with double-page spreads, with an impactful artwork, scale diagram to show them against a boy's size (ooh the sexism), a quick guide to their name, pronunciation, diet and so on, and a map to show where their fossils have been found, and a full text about their existence – and even a bonus paragraph regarding something else related to them, whether it be the oxygen levels that helped them grow, or the evolution that begat them in the first place. So even if we only get seven examples, by the end we've learnt a lot.

This would all be five-star stuff without the artwork, which is actually some of the best I have ever seen, resplendent in detail, nailing the contrast between foregrounded monster and setting, and just being all-told brilliant. It became not much of a surprise to read the illustrator has form in museum displays of such things. If anything is a problem, it's that each beastie gets not one but two nicknames, as they're a little redundant. On the whole, this is a real standard-setter, and even if it does appeal to only those seeking the biggest (and by association fastest and bloodiest) as opposed to the full picture, this is a must-buy.

I was always fascinated by dinosaurs so when I saw this book I really wanted to read it. We all know that there are many books and movies about the big dinosaurs but the bugs and the like are kinda the underdogs and often overlooked. And it's sad because they are way more versatile and in it's own right more dangerous. Can you imagine you stumble upon a pit bull sized scorpion? I know I don't. Thankfully not many megabugs live today. There are still some but compared to the modern world dangers they are pretty harmless, as long as you don't live in Australia (with the huntsman spider and so on)...
All in all this is a great way to inform yourself and your kinds about the megabugs that lived on this planet way before humans did. This books illustrations are pretty good and you also gt a ton of information about how they lived, died and where around the world were their fosils found.

Interesting topic. Good information and great illustrations and pictures. Fun to read with kids. Always entertaining to read about creatures that used to live and what creatures may have evolved from them.