Walking Sticks

This offering from the Even More SuperSized! series introduces readers to the world’s longest insect: Chan’s megastick, a walking stick native to the rain forests of northern Borneo that can grow to a length of 22 inches. Using double-page-spread chapters, Gray provides a wide range of basic information about this species. He details size, habitat, eating practices, predators, defense mechanisms, and life cycle. Each spread contains a brief section of text; crisp, captioned, full-color photographs; and an occasional map or related graphic. The back matter includes examples of other long insects. The photographs are particularly well chosen; captioned arrows call attention to structures that might otherwise be difficult to see—important for an animal whose specialty is camouflage. This makes a good choice for beginning researchers as well as curious browsers.