On Beyond Bugs: All About Insects Review

On Beyond Bugs: All About Insects is a thoughtful adaptation of the book of the same name, part of The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library developed by Oceanhouse Media.

Here, children will learn about many bug-related topics as they enjoy the Seuss-like illustrations and rhyming text to which this book is fashioned as The Cat in the Hat, along with Thing One and Thing Two, introducing readers to many fun bug facts such as basic anatomy, natural defenses or the strength of insects such as ants.

As is the case with other adaptations by Oceanhouse media, one has a chance to both read this non-fiction book to oneself or enjoy expert narrator John Bell’s stellar narration as he reads not only the original text from the published book, but also the added word definitions triggered by the tap of an insect-associated word seen in bold text, defining many bugs that are included in the book but never fully explored in the picture book, as this app includes many more words than the short glossary at the end of the printed version.

Also new to this experience are ambient sound effects and mild animated moments, as well as the ability to tap on objects or characters to see their corresponding labels both spoken as well as seen on the page. There are a few moments where one can also drag insects around the page as well as other such interactions.

Seussian books can be wordy but make up for this in the use of shortened, more frequent paragraphs, and I like how these adaptations down even further as a single paragraph is seen per page as one progresses through this story, which includes the original images panned and zoomed to draw the reader's attention.

I am impressed with the amount of insect information included, such as the bad smell lady bugs give off when feeling threatened as well as the differences between butterflies and moths.

The addition of extra glossary words not included in the book, new additional information about creatures such as the diving beetle, dog flea or pipevine caterpillar make this app rich with content - a very nice choice of apps for all ages of children, including older grade-school age children who will learn interesting insect information as well.