'Cicadas Don't Bug Me' book teaches kids to overcome fears of big bugs
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Love them or hate them, swarms of cicadas have emerged in the Chicago area, and for kids who are squeamish, seeing the 2-inch bugs can be nerve-wracking. But a Virginia woman has a remedy: a book designed to help kids overcome their cicada fears.
You can hear them and you can see them; in some parts of the Chicago area, cicadas are everywhere.
Christen Jeschke wrote the book "Cicadas Don't Bug Me" in 2021, when cicadas started appearing on the East Coast. She wanted to soothe her children, who were terrified by the onslaught.
"These bugs may look strange or scary at first. Cicadas won't hurt you. They are far from the worst," she said, reading from her book. "Cicadas are thirsty, drinking until the sap of the trees gives them their fill. Their mouths are shaped like a tube of a straw. Slurping their food, they can't hurt you at all."
Jeschke just released a second version for the current cicada influx in Illinois and other parts of the U.S.
"'Cicadas Don't Bug Me' is a fun book that teaches children not to be afraid of cicadas; to look at them with wonder and not worry, and fascination instead of fear," she said.
Using rhymes, facts, and real pictures, Jeschke's goal is to take away the mystery surrounding the bugs so kids won't be so scared.
"So often books don't show us what cicadas actually look like. They're cartoons, or their images that don't really reflect what we see when we experience these bugs. And so the photographs, they just show the children what to expect," she said.
Jeschke's book is available now on Amazon. Next, she's working on a book about Joro spiders, as the northeastern part of the U.S. braces for an invasion of the giant venomous spiders with 4-inch-long legs that can parachute through the air.