Eliza and the Dragonfly

Title: Eliza and the Dragonfly
Author: Susie Caldwell Rinehart
Major Themes: Insects
Synopsis: Eliza and her aunt took a dragonfly to the local pond and released it, and then watched a dragonfly nymph grow up and emerge from the water.

This year, for science with my five oldest boys, I am going through Exploring Creation With Zoology I: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. We’ve studied birds, bats, and flying reptiles, and are now studying insects. I ordered several picture books about insects from the library for the 3-year-old, to make him feel like he has his own school books. I have lost count of how many times I have read him Eliza and the Dragonfly! Other people have read it to him, as well. He loves it!

Eliza finds a dragonfly on her toothbrush. She tells her Aunt Doris, an entomologist, and they take the dragonfly to the pond and release it. While there, they make a waterscope to look under the water, and find a dragonfly nymph. Over the next several days or weeks, they visit the pond daily and watch the nymph eat and grow, and then see it emerge from the water and turn into an adult dragonfly. Lovely watercolors illustrate the story.

When I was in high school, we collected some bottom mud from a pond and put it into an aquarium, with plants from the pond. We studied the microscopic creatures with the microscope, and also watched a dragonfly nymph grow up. We fed it with flies we swatted in the windows! I’ve loved dragonflies ever since!

No warnings!