| Download a Free Sample | |
| $12.95 USD e-book download | |
| $18.95 USD printed book | |
A classic living science book used by Charlotte Mason!
Follow Jack and Maggie into the fascinating world of insects! When Jack receives a book for his birthday, he and his sister suddenly find themselves inside it, living the natural history. Learn from their adventures as they question a butterfly, narrate to a spider, go underground with a cicada, anger a wasp, attend a katydid concert, hear a candle fly’s court case, go airborne with some fireflies, sail with a raft-spider, and more.
This unique book, used in Charlotte Mason’s PNEU schools, has been out of print and almost impossible to find. We are pleased to bring this valuable resource back into circulation for another generation to enjoy.
- Charlotte Mason Recommended—Originally published in 1910, Jack’s Insects is a classic living science book that Charlotte Mason used in her schools. Records indicate that she recommended it for children in Form II (grades 4–6).
- Living Science—In true Charlotte Mason style, fascinating facts about insects are couched in a living story. You’ll learn about butterflies, caterpillars, plague locusts, carding bees, cicadas, katydids, and more, and from the (often opinionated) insects themselves. (Oh, yes, these insects are quite the characters!)
- Original Illustrations—J. A. Shepherd created more than forty-four pen and ink drawings to illustrate the story of Jack’s Insects. We have tried to preserve the integrity of these original illustrations, presenting them as they appeared in the early 1900’s edition, including their hand-drawn border lines.
Looking for the sequel? Our research has indicated that the sequel, Jack’s Other Insects is simply the last ten chapters of Jack’s Insects published as a separate book. So as far as we know, this reprint of Jack’s Insects contains all the chapters from both books.
1 review / comment
Sonya
A number of people have asked whether the 4th to 6th grade recommendation refers to reading level and if it would be a good book to read aloud to younger children.
As with most good living books, the younger children can pick up a lot from listening to it read aloud. However, in this case, the recommended grade level might also be referring to emotional stability as well as being old enough to enjoy some of the (not in a bad way) “adult humor” that the author throws in. Examples . . .
Have you gotten to the part in the free sample chapter (chapter 9) where the walking stick comes in “parenthetically”? I love that part, but the younger kids probably won’t even catch it. I’m sure they would benefit from the parts they do catch, but they would probably catch more and enjoy it even more when they’re older.
There’s also a part where the Great Golden Digger Wasp feeds the Cicada to her larvae, and the Cicada is still alive. It’s not presented in a gross way or anything, but some sensitive little first grade child might have nightmares over that one, you know?
So I’m thinking maybe those two reasons are why Charlotte waited until 4th grade, but I don’t know for sure.
As far as children older than 6th grade, I know how much I learned and enjoyed the story as I typed it, so I don’t think there’s any problem with letting older students read it.