Six-Legged Ghosts: The insects of Aotearoa

With beautiful endpapers and full colour illustrations throughout, this large hardback book is a treasure. Six Legged Ghosts is a wide spanning non-fiction book about New Zealand insects, less of a textbook and more of a passionate plea for people to pay more attention to the little legged creatures all around us.

In distinct chapters Duval covers a huge array of subjects relating to insect life, from Māori insect lore to insect conservation in Aotearoa. I found the chapter on the importance of championing insect life really fascinating and the way Duval advocates for changing the conversation around insects is endearing and compelling.

As well as accessible and gentle language the whole large book is interlaced with quotes, poems and fascinating illustrations. Most of the striking watercolours are done by Duval but she has also carefully curated other prints, maps and pictures. Six Legged Ghosts is a weighty, beautiful coffee table book. As it is aimed at a general audience, it probably wouldn’t appeal greatly to junior students at a primary school but would be greatly appreciated by older budding entomologists.

Would this book work as a real aloud? Passages at a time perhaps.