The Bug Girl tells about Sophia Spencer, a young girl from Sarnia, Ontario Canada who sought out support online after she was bullied because of her love of bugs.
Sophia first became interested in bugs when her family visited a butterfly conservatory. At the conservatory a butterfly landed on Sophia and stayed on her during her entire visit. Sophia's interest in bugs was born!
By the time she was five-years-old, Sophia had learned a lot about bugs. For example, she knew their biological name was arthropods. She loved to read books about bugs and watch videos about bugs.
When Sophia was in kindergarten, the other children thought her love of bugs was pretty cool. They joined her bug hunter club, searching for bugs on weekends. The only rule Sophia's mother had concerning her bugs was that they had to stay outside on the front porch.
But in Grade One, that all changed. Instead of interest, Sophia faced ridicule for her love of bugs. When she brought a grasshopper to school to show her classmates, Sophia was ridiculed and the insect was killed. That night Sophia's mother tried to comfort her, telling her it was okay to love bugs. Despite her mother's reassurance, Sophia stopped bringing bugs to school. She was still made fun of by her classmates.
This led Sophia's mother to reach out online to a group of entomologists in the hope they could offer Sophia support for her interest in bugs. An entomologist, Morgan Jackson saw the email and after obtaining Sophia's mother's permission, posted it to other scientists around the world. Soon Sophia began receiving messages from scientists all over the world, including many who were women interested in bugs just like her. Sophia was asked to do interviews and even helped Morgan Jackson write a scientific article on how to interest young people in bugs!
Discussion
The Bug Girl is a colourful picture book that highlights the obstacles girls who have an unusual science interest face and offers a way to help budding girl scientists. It recounts the story of now eleven-year-old Sophia Spencer who fell in love with bugs after a visit to the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory. At first Sophia's friends seemed interested in bugs but in Grade One that interest turned to bullying when she brought a grasshopper to school.
Hoping to find some moral and scientific support for her daughter, Nicole Spencer emailed the Entomological Society of Canada asking for educational resources and perhaps an entomologist who could answer some of her daughter's questions about bugs. Canadian scientist Morgan Jackson saw the email and posted it to Twitter along with the hashtag #BugsR4Girls . The tweet went viral and Sophia was contacted by many bug scientists, some of whom were women.
The Bug Girl highlights one way girls are discouraged from showing an interest in subjects that might be considered more for boys. Because Sophia was so different from her classmates in her love of bugs, she experienced bullying. Her mother was able to find support for Sophia from the scientific community and today Sophia remains determined to become an entomologist when she is older.
Accompanying this affirming story are the beautiful illustrations done by the husband and wife team of Marie Pommepuy and Sebastien Cosset who go by the pen name of Kerascoet. Their artwork which is rendered in ink, watercolour and coloured pencil capture all the emotions Sophia felt. From her elation at sharing her love of bugs with her friends to the sadness at being bullied, to the joy she felt when her interest was affirmed by other scientists, all these emotions are beautifully portrayed.
Sophia, who wrote The Bug Girl with the help of award-winning author, Margaret MacNamara has also included a section at the back called More Bug Facts which features information about bugs including some "super-cool bug facts", what entomologists do, a section on the life cycle of a butterfly, some tips on studying bugs in the wild and Sophia's "My Top Four Bugs, And Why".
The Bug Girl will be of interest to girls AND boys who love bugs. This picture book also offers a great way to explore the themes of empathy, difference, the meaning of friendship and girls in STEM.
Book Details:
The Bug Girl (a true story) by Sophia Spencer and Margaret McNamara
New York: Tundra Books 2020
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