Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Stick Bug’s birthday is still a few days away, but Beetle simply can’t wait to give him his present: a purple puffy coat perfect for the pair’s blustery afternoon walks. Stick Bug isn’t sure the coat is his style, but Beetle insists that he wears it around town to show it off, even going so far as to brag about his excellent gift-giving skills to passers-by while poor Stick Bug attempts to hide out of worry that he looks ridiculous (which he does). It’s only when Beetle is making Stick Bug’s second birthday present, a portrait of Stick Bug in the coat, does Beetle realize that his friend’s forlorn expression indicates Stick Bug isn’t happy about the jacket. The familiar childhood lesson of respecting one another’s different likes and dislikes is injected [End Page 121] with personality here, and Beetle is no villain, just a very generous gift giver who is not entirely considerate of his gift recipient’s desires. Fine linework combines with delicate washes of subdued colors to capture the autumnal milieu of the bug city, with ladybugs wearing cozy hats and scarves and a particularly stylish bee rocking a well-coiffed beehive (naturally) and fuzzy earmuffs. Squat, mustachioed Beetle makes a humorous counterpart to slender, bespectacled Stick Bug, and the addition of the voluminous purple coat to the latter’s stickly form is especially amusing. It’s clear no misbegotten coat will come between the two antennaed friends, and a quick repurposing by Stick Bug allows them both to enjoy it.