The Bug Book & Bottle is a bountiful bundle of goodies stored inside a hard plastic oval about the size of a crayon box. Inside are a bug identification chart with nearly 50 common insects that you might find in your yard, or even, yes, in your house, a 110-page Bug Book, an illustrated field guide and activity booklet, a bug bottle and magnifier to help identify and store the winged creatures you might catch, and a Bug Journal, designed like a miniature school notebook with pages to catalog and draw your discovery. The Bug Book, the main element of the kit, is well designed and well made. It successfully and artistically catalogs insects by habitat, with clever chapters like, “Look on Leaves,” “Look on Flowers,” “Look in a Pond,” or “Look on the Ground.” Each of nearly 30 insects is given its own page with information on appearance, food and trivia, as well as lots of background information on the category of insect. The container, in which all of these nifty supplies are presented, acts as the bug bottle with an aerated lid. A full and fun section at the back has loads of easy, independent activity ideas to send your explorer off to the woods, or down to the basement, to see what she can find!

For $13.95 it’s a bargain; it’s also a great birthday gift for budding elementary-school entomologists, or a wonderful addition to a science teacher’s classroom.