Amanda Frankenstein is a sturdy little girl with glasses and a singular passion: "Insects are my life," she tells everyone she meets, and indeed they are. When she's not observing live bugs or collecting dead ones, she dreams of insects, and her obsession sometimes makes life difficult. With gentle humor stemming from skillful use of exaggeration, Megan McDonald celebrates the spirit of a young child bent on one particualar interest while Paul Brett Johnson's sunny illustrations perfectly capture Amanda in her many moods. (Ages 4-7)

No one at home or school understands Amanda Frankenstein's devotion to insects until she meets Maggie.