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Anyone who who has always tended to suppose that insects are a tricky topic for children will need to revise their opinion in the light of Anne Möller’s award-winning book, which won her the 2005 German Children’s Literature Prize in the non-fiction category. With great vividness, and with great sympathy for our creepy-crawly friends, she shows us the highly diverse techniques used by beetles, bees, wasps etc. to create the safest possible conditions for their eggs to develop in.
The author starts by recounting a particular experience of her own that served to make her aware of just how dedicated insects are in their nest-building activities. This fascinating observation prompted her to take a much deeper interest in the topic, and one outcome of her absorption is this present book, in which she successfully communicates her enthusiasm to young and old alike. Then at the end of the book she also includes tips on how to garner further information, recommending not only books but also relevant internet sites.
Anne Möller takes her young readers seriously and credits them with the ability to grasp quite complex issues. At the same time she also avoids trivialising or prettifying the creatures she deals with. Her drawings of the insects are true to nature and show them in ways that would be difficult to achieve even with the marvels of modern photography. By showing processes such as the creation of cavities through a succession of images, Möller enables children to follow the evolution of the insects’ nesting places stage by stage. Since the techniques specific to each insect are first summarised in a brief introduction, the reader knows in advance what the strenuous efforts of the bee or beetle in question are intended to achieve.
One striking feature of this book is its particular ‘aesthetic’. Those parts of Anne Möller’s illustrations that are not central to an understanding of the process under discussion are often created by the use of collage techniques that are in fact a trademark of her work. For this she uses scraps of paper that she first paints in various colours then tears into different shapes before arranging them to create flowers, blossom, tree-trunks and the like. This gives the images a striking sense of depth, whilst at the same time highlighting the very precise detail in the depictions of the insects.
With her book Nester bauen, Höhlen knabbern Anne Möller has demonstrated that factual books for children on nature topics don’t always have to be about furry, cuddly animals, and that insects, too, can be made perfectly appealing to younger readers — and without any compromising of artistic aspirations or expectations. This book will doubtless cause more than one child to look a bit more closely when something creeps past in their garden or in the countryside.
Heike Friesel
April 2007
[Translated by Katy Derbyshire]
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