Du Iz Tak?

Illustrations are fabulous, this is a joy to read to my child. He also loves it, which is amazing.

People complain about this book, that the words leave them feeling silly reading it out loud or their kids are confused by it…Yet I bet all those people love Dr. Seuss books, which is arguably *more* confusing because he introduced made up words amidst the English language.This book is entirely made up language, but each word still means something, and the more you read it, the more you’ll get. (Ie “unk ribble” is “a ladder”) but the illustrations are where this is at. It’s an award winner for a reason.This beautifully illustrated, fantastical story about an extremely micro event amongst bugs is definitely one you want to add to your library.

The insect heroes of this book take us through the seasons of discovery and growth in a way that is both natural and magical.

I love this book! I think my grandson (3 yrs old) will, too, when I give it to him for his birthday, but I’m so enthralled with it myself (the art, the concept, the made-up insect language that is perfectly comprehensible) that if he somehow doesn’t, I’m keeping it for myself! If I were not retired and still teaching English, I’d be using it along with Jabberwocky to show students how language works.

Out of the 20+ books we bought our kids for Christmas, this one is the best! There's no English language here, but your kid will totally know what is going on. My 6-year-old (who demands I read this nightly!) noticed multiple details that I myself had not. The humor comes from the reading (after several go-rounds) of these made-up words, with the tone and inflection one would use if the book were "translated." I'm also impressed that the language is not just random gibberish. There are real conversations going on here, and if kids look carefully at the photos, they will definitely figure it out. My daughter now translates each sentence after I read it. It is totally charming and challenging in a really delightful way.The art is beautiful and the characters are animated and emote in such a way as to shed light in what they are discussing.All in all, best children's book purchase of 2016. This from a former reading teacher- get it! It's fantastic. I intend to buy a copy for all kiddo birthdays we attend in the near future!

This book is great because of the attention to detail. There are actually many stories going on throughout the book. After three readings I am still finding new details that I missed the first time. The "language" is internally consistent, using only a few phrases to let you figure out what is being said. But the text only tells one of the stories in the book. If you study the pictures you'll find that every detail of each picture is participating in its own story. It is a joy to look through, more a work of art than a simple story.The pictures never move from a single scene, instead favoring to show only what had changed with each scene. This is really helpful for young children, since it is easy to connect the pictures on the first page with the pictures on the second page. There's nothing to confuse.

My 16 month old and I both adore this book (he didn't really appreciate it until a month ago, and now he can't get enough of it). The illustrations are beautiful, and it's really fun to read in the fake bug language, which is easy to figure out within the context of the pictures. I especially love that there is a little side-story about a caterpillar emerging from a chrysalis, and the food web is represented with a menacing spider which is eaten by a bird. When my son is older, I will use that as an opening to talk to him about some of the more life/death aspects of nature. This is one of the best children's books I have seen, and I think the awards it has won are well-deserved.

My 4 yr old adores this book. We often use lines from this book to talk about plants throughout the day. The illustrations are lovely and simple, and we even so we notice new things each time we read it.

I just don't get this book at all and neither do the kids. It looked like a really sweet, amusing, interesting book, and the pictures have all sorts of captivating and funny details... so I guess it just missed the mark with the whole "bug language" concept.I tried reading it to a 5 year-old and a 3 year-old and they just looked at me blankly. They couldn't figure out what was going on, why couldn't they understand the words? it's not in English so they don't understand what's happening! I had to literally describe what was happening in each picture, tried asking questions, what do you think is happening, what do you think the bugs are saying? What can you see? Tried reading it in funny bug voices using as much expression as possible to try and convey the meaning. Children shake their heads blankly. They look at me expectantly, waiting for the "story" to come out of my mouth. Am I just playing with them while they wait for the "proper story" to begin?? They haven't got a clue. And it's not that these two have no imagination. They have wonderful imaginations. But because the text is not written in any recognisable language and their entire experience of books so far leads them to expect that they're going to understand the words and those words will make a story, they don't know what's going on. Tbh I struggled to follow it myself. You've got to examine the pictures really closely to work it out.The storyline seems to be this. Some bugs find a green shoot. They don't know what it is. It grows into a flower. They think it's either a space rocket or a beanstalk. A spider takes it over. The bugs are sad. A bird eats the spider. The bugs are happy. The flower dies. The bugs are sad and confused. It snows and all bugs either die or hibernate. It's Spring and the chrysalis hatches and out flies a butterfly. Lots of new shoots grow. On the face of it this seems to be a really sweet and touching story, but the thing is, I had to make up the words and tell the story myself from looking at the pictures. Kids like a story to be an actual story.I don't know what possessed me to buy this book, someone I respect praised it on Instagram. What a waste of money.

My three year older and I adore this book. The made up language makes us laugh and we are now fluent in ‘bug’ the storytelling is wonderful and will really help develop those little imaginations.Every time we read this book we discover new things and I feel that it is teaching my child about nature and discovery, feelings, loss and rebirth.

This book was a total hit with my three year old who loved the made up language and would use the words. We’ve given it as a gift to friends who similarly appreciated it. Don’t be afraid of your little one learning different words....they are totally up for it.

I love love love this book! The pictures are amazing and once you get into it you can work out the bug language... I haven't used it with pupils yet but will, we will work it all out together and it will help our decoding skills. However you could just read it as it is, as you want to, and enjoy the sounds and illustrations! It is a beautiful book!

Love this book which makes children use their inference and prediction skills and come up with good suggestions, some of which need to be corrected after reading on! Lovely pictures. Excellent learning device. Thank you.