Where are all the Christmas Beetles by Suzanne Houghton

The end papers in this book are scrumptious. Each page is designed with so much care and the final fact pages are sure to satisfy your curious young reading companion who sadly may not have seen these special little creatures.

"Every year in summer, some visitors come to stay: to eat, drink and be merry, dancing the night away."

"Their glistening little bodies look like baubles on a tree. When they cluster all together it's a wondrous sight to see. But I've some to notice lately they're more difficult to find. I've been wondering what has happened; it's been playing on my mind."

Thankfully talented author and illustrator Suzanne Houghton has introduced this fascinating but slowly disappearing insect to a new generation of readers. With a delightful cover and gorgeous endpapers, rhyming prose and stunning illustrations, Where are all the Christmas Beetles? is a wonderful factual narrative to share with young children. ReadPlus

 I grew up in suburban Sydney. My mum and dad "won" their block of land and dad cleared part of the block ready for their new house, but he left a small area of natural bush at the front of the property and this is where I remember finding Christmas Beetles. Their colourful shells fascinated me and I remember their sharp little 'claws' but recently Christmas Beetles have disappeared. This new book is very timely. In Australia we associate these beetles with Christmas, and so it is wonderful to have a very different very Australian book to share with children at Christmas in a country where we don't see snow and it is summer not winter.

This book should be added to every Primary school library here in Australia and I expect to see it listed as a Children's Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall (Non Fiction) Notable title. Congratulations to the CSIRO on producing another splendid book that will delight and inform children.

Christmas Beetles are a type of scarab (a group that includes dung beetles and chafers). Compared to other scarabs, Christmas Beetles (genus Anoplognathus) are large and chunky, somewhat flattened in shape and with metallic brown, yellow or pink colours. There are 36 species in the genus with all but one unique (endemic) to Australia, and 21 species found in New South Wales with at least 10 species occurring in Sydney and the Blue Mountains region. The adults generally feed on eucalypt leaves. They prefer open woodland to forest and thrive in pastures wherever trees have been left in place. Australian Museum

Websites to explore:

Australian Museum

Gardening4Kids

Listen to this radio broadcast (3 minutes)

Watch a video Australian Environmental Science

Image source: Brisbane Insects

Australian Geographic

Brisbane Insects - a page filled with photos

Book review The Bottom Shelf

The website for the author Suzanne Houghton is filled with riches for you to explore. I talked about Christmas Beetles when I shared Leaf Stone Beetle by Ursula Dubosarsky (a small but mighty book well worth hunting out in your library).

Another warm memory I have relating to Christmas Beetles is of a Christmas party at the home of a friend about 25 years ago. There were lots of young children at this family party so my friend set out some simple craft activities for the children and one was to make a Christmas Beetle. We used split pins to layer the wings and waxed lunch wrap for the transparent layer. I wish I had a photo to share. 

I saw this book briefly in a bookstore last week. I haven't had a chance to read it but it is another Australian picture book for young children featuring our Christmas Beetle.

See more on the Author web site - Laura Bunting