( 9 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 13 2008
Many of my students & kids at the nature center where I volunteer find caterpillars and want to know what kind they are. We also often keep caterpillars in our butterfly keeper and need to know what to feed the little wigglers. This book has the answers we need. The pictures are clear, it is easy to read and it is very complete-we have been able to find every specimen we have looked up. I have many field guides in many areas and have found it's always safe to trust any Peterson Guides.
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Posted: Aug 11 2008
I bought this guide on a whim (for myself, as an adult) as I was starting to get interested in caterpillars. It's not complete enough to have every caterpillar you'd find in it (for that you want "Wagner's Caterpillars of Eastern North America", which I recently bought, but WOW is it big!). But, when I gave this book away to a neighbor with kids, I missed it so much I bought it again! It's a great book with not only illustrations of the caterpillar, but also the moth or butterfly it will become (something lacking in Wagner's book, because all moths are illustrated with their wings flat (and not necessarily how they land when you observe them)). All in all, this is a great beginners book and also one for the more advanced observe to keep around for helping introduce the pasttime to neighbors and kids! It packs in a lot of information of the most commonly found caterpillars.
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Posted: Jul 11 2008
This is a fine concept, completely unrealized. I bought it for grandchildren, but it would insult their intelligence. Authors picked out a very few species of charismatic, or at least colorful caterpillars, and left it at that. They did not bother to mention that only two or three of these stars occur throughout the US. Nor do they bother mentioning that 3/4 of all caterpillars will become moths, not butterflies. Nothing useful about how to look for caterpillars. Peterson Guides should have hired someone who cared about caterpillars and kids at least a little.
