Bugs

A sophisticated pop-up guide to the fascinating world of insects, spiders and other creepy-crawlies.  Author George McGavin is a natural history TV presenter, but has academic credentials at the Oxford Natural History Museum and University Zoology Department.  His passion for the subject is matched by the exquisitely detailed artwork of Jim Kay and the imaginative paper engineering of Richard Ferguson.  A giant pop-up of a cockroach shows not only its structure in 3D, but its body can be peeled back layer by layer to reveal its inner anatomy.  (Putting it all back together requires a little more dexterity.)  Opening flaps dotted around the page reveals further information about different aspects of how arthropod bodies work, from circulation and breathing to nerves and senses.  The pages are set out as though they are the facsimile of a naturalist’s notebook, with cuttings, handwritten notes and specimens.  Nonetheless the surprises lurking beneath some of the flaps prevent it from seeming too serious, while a final spread explores a range of the deadliest, strongest, heaviest and noisiest record breakers in the insect and arthropod world, presided over by a magnificent pop-up scorpion.