It is a rare primary or junior classroom that does not study insects at some time or other, often with particular emphasis on the life cycle. Critters caught in the playground seldom oblige by revealing the wonders of change directly to their young captors. That’s why science specialists often rely on mealworms to carry the metamorphosis show.

This book offers tips on the raising of the mealworm to curious folks who boast no degree in biology. Simple language and clearly labelled, coloured illustrations explain the food, habitat requirements, and four stages of change, with an indication of how long each part of the cycle might be expected to last. While mealworms can be obtained at most pet stores, it seems, the book is less specific about what happens when they become full-fledged darkling beetles. These adults, fond of cereal and grain, are more akin to pests than pets. Although they die soon after laying about 500 eggs, the life cycle is perpetuated. What is the sensible and responsible thing to do after the mealworm farm has served its time as a learning opportunity? Should cast-off mealworms be returned to the pet store to feed lizards and turtles, placed in a compost heap, or left outside to fend for themselves? More direction would have been educational and comforting.

Mealworms is outfitted with a table of contents, index, and glossary, which is helpful if a student needs to narrow a research focus. However, the book seems fragmented if a straightforward, sequential reading of the complete text is attempted. Two quite general sections on complete and incomplete metamorphosis, and a part dedicated to insect investigation, separate the details of the mealworm’s life cycle from more information and some experiments relating to its appearance, food, and habitat. These supplementary topics are interesting enough, but they might have seemed less intrusive as an “insect extras” section following a completely unified presentation of the main topic, which does, after all, first promise to be a hands-on study of mealworms.