Cicada Serenade

Their song was majestic. Mesmerizing. I loved to lie spread-eagled in the grass beneath the speckled maples, listening to their hypnotic hum, feeling the buzz electrify my freckled skin, igniting the fuzzy blonde hairs on my lanky arms.It was May 2038 and the pharaoh-cicadas were sprouting all across the Eastern United States for the first time in seventeen years. It was astounding to think that these tomato-eyed, jewel-winged, dopey-flying, outspoken little critters were older than me. For all but the last six weeks of their lives, they tunneled underground as tiny nymphs, feeding on root sap. Then, suddenly, in the spring of their seventeenth year, when the soil-temperature reached sixty-four degrees, they surfaced all at once, by the millions, to sing, mate and die, in rapid succession. It was wonderfully-tragic in a sort of Shakespearean way, how suddenly their lives blossomed then ceased. They spent nearly two decades waiting in the dark, not only silent and blind but virtually alone, for a mere blink of glory at the end--for a single season in the sun, spreading their orange-laced wings, singing louder than lawnmowers, mating monogamously, laying eggs in the treetops? then, dropping dead, falling to the bases of the same saplings that provided their sustenance, giving their bodies back to the soil from which they emerged, fertilizing their home-base for the next generation. How beautifully heartbreaking it was, yet poignant with purpose. Cicadas never had to wonder what their goals were--it was wired in their instincts. Cicadas didn't have to worry about dating and breaking up repeatedly, until your heart was nothing but bleeding carnage in the dirt. Their paths were simple, clear, obvious. They were guaranteed to find their soulmate in a timely fashion, without the painful rigmarole that plagued my high-school. Courting was straightforward for them: males sang their one-hundred-decibel chorus, interested females would flick their wings in consent, and that was that--they were a couple. While some cicadas mated more than once, roughly ninety percent stayed loyal to their one true love. It was a real-live Hallmark movie.It was this shy, sixteen-year-old, eleventh-grade musician's dream.

Cicadas Serenade is a poetry collection of unparalleled suffering and beauty. Strong themes, such as dysphoria and sin are explored alongside transcendental and romantic notions. Throughout this collection, the limits of form are pushed in tandem with the sanity of the poet. If you are a student of poetry, this collection is a must have.

The last insect to need a megaphone would be a cicada. No bug is louder than a male cicada buzzing for a female! This title shouts cool cicada facts at kids, including that cicada noisemakers are called tymbals and that nymphs can stay underground for up to 17 years!

A reference encyclopedia providing information on endangered wildlife and plants throughout the world.

If there’s one bug known for living underground, it’s cicadas! Some species of cicadas spend most of their lives below ground, only emerging once every 13 to 17 years. In this volume, readers go underground to learn more about this unique insect. They’ll learn facts about the cicada’s life cycle, behavior, physical characteristics, and the important role it plays in its ecosystem. Readers will even learn about the cicada’s identifying “song.” Through information-rich text, fact boxes, and highly detailed photographs, this text puts a high-interest twist on the important science concepts covered in the classroom.

"Definitely the best cicada book for kids. Adults will appreciate it as well, as it is well written, factually accurate, and beautifully illustrated." —Cicadamania.com Discover why cicadas are all the buzz in the most complete, comprehensive book for kids about these noisy but harmless insects. Every year, annual cicadas emerge and pierce the air with their buzzing calls. Also every year, at least one brood of 13 or 17 year cicadas emerges in some part of the eastern or central United States. In Spring 2021, a group of 17 year periodical cicadas called Brood X will make their appearance in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Author Laurence Pringle and illustrator Meryl Henderson have created the story of this fascinating and often misunderstood insect, one that deserves to be protected.

Common thought places cicadas as tree dwellers; these odd insects actually live most of their lives underground. This book details the bizarre life cycle of the cicada, including the deposit of hundreds of eggs on a tree branch and details of a species that can live 17 years. Fascinating fact boxes provide readers with more strange information, and fun graphic organizers aid understanding. Full-color photographs enhance easy-to-understand language and science content. Many species of cuckoo lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. After the young cuckoo hatches, it may eject the other babies from the nest so it can thrive.

Fact-filled, fun-filled, as interesting to parents as it is to kids, the How Come? series is the trusted source for lively, clear answers to kids’ science queries. Now the best questions and answers from all three books—How Come?; How Come? Planet Earth; and How Come? In the Neighborhood—have been revised, updated, freshly illustrated in full color, supplemented with twenty completely new questions, and combined into one bigger, better volume. How Come? explains, in fascinating detail, more than 200 mysteries and phenomena in the world around us. These are the questions that pique kids’ curiosity—and stump parents. When it rains, does running (rather than walking) to the nearest shelter really keep you any drier? How can a stone skip across a pond (instead of sink)? If the Earth is spinning, why can’t we feel it? Why don’t we fly off? Why do elephants have trunks? And the all-time classic, Why is the sky blue? (Sunlight has a hidden rainbow of colors, and air molecules scatter blues the most—sending bright blue light down to Earth.) The text is clearly written, engaging, and accessible. It’s for every kid who wants to know—and every grown-up who simply doesn’t know.

Two little boys in the bayou are tucked in for the night when they hear the strange noise outside of a cicada calling out for a mate. Their mother tells them the story of the cicada's life cycle and how he goes about finding his love.