That Gunk On Your Car

From Eliafamily

That Gunk On Your Car (1997) was a book about entymology by University of Florida zoologist Mark Hostetler aimed at kids in their preteen and early teen years. The book was illustrated by Elia Rebekah St. John.

Contents

The book contains several chapters dedicated to many different insects: ants, flies, moths, love bugs, etc. The book also offers several activities for young people to learn more about insects. The main "hook" of the book is that it can be used as a field guide of a very particular (and peculiar) type: based on the look of the "splat" on one's car windshield, one could use the book to identify the insect in question.

Illustrations

The highlight of the book are the two-dozen full color illustrations by Rebekah (McClean) St. John, which appear on several plates in the middle of the book. The illustrations were done in acrylic paint using specimens from the University of Florida's "bug library"; an enormous entymological collection of preserved specimens. Each panel is supplemented with an illustration of a representative "splat", which was taken usually from the artist's imagination (guided by the author).

Reviews

The book appears at Amazon's online bookstore and was sold in several major retail book stores. Mark Hostetler was interviewed on National Public Radio and the book was written up in several newspaper articles. There are several references to the book on the internet, including a website devoted to the NPR program "Car Talk". In general the book was well-received, though as far as I'm aware there has not been a reprinting of the book in some time, and the work is no longer listed on the Ten Speed Press web site.