The Bug Girl by Sophia Spencer with Margaret McNamara

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

The Bug Girl: Maria Merian's Scientific Vision by Sarah Glenn Marsh

Maria Merian was born in 1647 to Matthaeus Merian and Johanna Sibylla Heim in Frankfurt, Germany. Matthaeus was a famous engraver who passed his exceptional talent onto Maria and her two older brothers Matthaeus Jr. and Caspar. Maria's father died when she was only three years old. Her mother remarried, to a painter named Jacob Marrel who taught Maria how to paint in watercolours.She did not learn to paint with oils because many Germany cities forbade women from selling oil paintings.

Maria married Johann Andreas Graff in 1665 and three years later gave birth to a daughter, Johanna Helena in 1668. That year they moved to Nurnberg, Graff's hometown. Maria spent time painting watercolours of flowers but during her painting of plants she began to observe the various insects on and around them. Her observations were captured in beautiful paintings which were also very accurate. Another daughter, Dorothea Maria in 1678.

In The Bug Girl, Merian is portrayed as a young girl who was deeply interested in the world around her. She observed the natural world, especially the plants, and insects that crawled and flew. Marsh explains that during this time the average person was very superstitious about the world around them. Very little was known about how insects came to be. It was widely believed that "creatures such as butterflies, moths, and frogs were born from mud puddles in a process known as 'spontaneous generation.' " Because of the belief that anyone interested in these creatures was likely evil,  Maria had to study them secretly, trying not to attract anyone's notice.

To understand how caterpillars came into existence, Maria studied silk worms which were the easiest to find. When the eggs hatched she learned by trial and error that they liked to eat mulberry leaves.She also learned that the silkworm caterpillars grew large enough, they formed cocoons which eventually opened to reveal beautiful white moths. Her work confirmed the conclusions Francesco Redi had reached in 1668, that spontaneous generation did not exist. Instead they went through a process now called metamorphosis.

Maria continued to observe and paint and also to teach other girls how to do the same. Eventually she and her daughter, Dorothea traveled to Suriname in South America on a scientific expedition. On this journey, at the age of fifty-two,  she would observe and paint many unusual insects. Maria was forced to leave Suriname after two years, due to ill health but she did publish a book of her observations that was well received. Maria passed away in 1717, leaving a legacy that has been rediscovered three hundred years later.

Discussion

Sphinx moth, Maria Merian

The Bug Girl brings to life the remarkable story of Maria Merian, a woman who broke the conventions of her time to observe and record the natural world around her. In the process Maria's work helped to dispel some of the superstitions common in the 1600's and contributed significantly to the field of biology. A unique feature of her beautiful, detailed paintings is that they featured insects in their natural habitat, portraying the plants and flowers that were key to their life cycles.  Her many paintings were published in various books including Blumenbach (Book of Flowers) in three parts, Neues Blumenbach (New Book of Flowers) which was published in 1680, Der Raupen (The Caterpillar) which was a book about the life cycle of the caterpillar, part I published in 1679 and a second book published in 1683.

Her work from Suriname was published in a book titled Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium which was available both in colour and uncoloured. Despite the fact that she was a woman, her book was much sought after. Many of the plates of her illustrations were purchased by Peter the Great and now reside in St. Petersburg. In 2017, the 300th anniversary of her death in 1717, Merian's book on Suriname was republished, containing many plates of her art. Marsh has reproduced some in the front and back of her picture book.

Maria Merian's careful observations of insects, sometimes done overnight, meant that she captured aspects of the life cycle of insects that were not well known in the 17th century and early 18th century.  She recorded the life cycles of one hundred and eighty-six insects! Maria's focus was mainly on insects, although she also studied frogs, amphibians and reptiles.

While Marsh's text captures the essence of Maria Merian's contributions, the illustrations leave much to be desired, especially considering the beautiful detail of Maria's own paintings.  More attractive illustrations would like capture the readers interest and make this picture book biography more appealing.

image credit: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/science/maria-sibylla-merian-metamorphosis-insectorum-surinamensium.html



Book Details:

The Bug Girl: Maria Merian's Scientific Vision by Sarah Glenn Marsh
Chicago: Albert Whitman & Company       2019