Bugs of British Columbia,

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

Following on the success of Bugs of Alberta, John Acorn and Ian Sheldon
have teamed up again with Lone Pine Publishing to create two more
regional bug guides, one for British Columbia and another for Washington
and Oregon. These two states and one province form one continuous
geographic area that happens to have an international border bisecting
it. Bugs do not obey political boundaries, so it is not surprising that
there is a high degree of overlap between these two publications.

The two books follow the standard Lone Pine field guide format, with
thumbnail images at the front, an introductory section, and one-page
entries for each bug. Acorn’s text takes up half of the page and
Sheldon’s excellent illustrations occupy the other half. The drawings
are so realistic that they almost look like photographs. Neither book is
a comprehensive listing of bugs found in the respective areas, but each
does cover the most common families of bugs.

Written in an often chatty style, these books continue Acorn’s
mission of making entomology accessible to the general public. Their
intended audience is “bugsters,” a term Acorn coined for people who
love bugs. Recommended for public libraries and school libraries in the
regions covered, and for “bugsters” living in or visiting British
Columbia, Washington, and Oregon.