As summer invites you to enjoy our many state parks and recreation areas, you might pick up a colorful guide to the insects buzzing around you by Jonesboro couple Norman and Cheryl Lavers, 100 Insects of Arkansas and the Midsouth: Portraits & Stories (released May 2018).
As lifelong naturalists and teachers, the Lavers know that if people had any idea how intricate and fascinating the life stories of insects can be, they might think twice before reaching for something to swat with. Many wonders of the world are going ignored just over our heads and beneath our feet. Did you know that allowing for their size, the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) is among the fastest running creatures on earth? Or that predators automatically find brightly colored insects suspicious because so many are unpalatable or poisonous, and that some non-poisonous insects mimic their colors for protection?
Readers will be riveted by the incredible, intimate images taken over years of careful study and the stories thoughtfully collected about insects like The Fiery Searcher, The Twice-Stabbed Lady Beetle, and the Ambush Bug. As you peek under leaf litter, learn to identify what flies across your path, listen for sounds on summer nights, and study insect weaponry and mimicry with the Lavers, prepare for your woodland walks to be forever changed.
This premium color, 8.5 x 9, 104-page paperback is available at etaliapress.com for $26.95 with free shipping, local garden centers and booksellers, and from online retailers including Amazon.
A Hot Springs native, Erin Wood is a writer, editor, and publisher in Little Rock. She owns and runs Et Alia Press (etaliapress.com), which has publishing interests in three areas: Local Histories, Health and Wellness, and Emerging Artists. She is editor of and a contributor to Scars: An Anthology. Wood’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Catapult, The Rumpus, Ms. Magazine’s Blog, Psychology Today, Tales from the South, and elsewhere, and was a Best American Essays notable.
