Beetle Boy by MG Leonard

In this middle-grade rescue novel, every bug has its day.

Hero Darkus Cuttle doesn’t have a bed to sleep in. His head’s been shaved by a bully. His father’s gone missing, and he’s starting his third school in five weeks. The picture’s bleak.

Then he gets adopted by an intelligent beetle - a beetle which appears to have something to say.

With the police stumped by dead ends, it’s down to the beetle and the boy to undertake their own investigation into the disappearance of Darkus’s father.

They uncover a sinister plot, of course, but they also discover the wonderful world of insects - and this is the beating thorax of the book. There are rhinoceros beetles, dung beetles, stag beetles, bombardier and blister beetles, jewel beetles, fireflies, and more. The novel is a showcase of beetles, their weapons, and their defensive powers.

Some disorienting shifts in point of view tripped the flow of the narrative, and the squabbling neighbours made cartoonish villains. But arch-villain Lucretia Cutter is deliciously yucky and, like a cockroach, much more difficult to vanquish.

The adventures continue in Beetle Queen and Battle of the Beetles.

Beetle Boy is a novel about friendship and standing up for nature. It’s achievement is getting us to stop and reconsider the insect world - seeing bugs not as icky and gross but as marvels of evolution and essential - essential - to the health of the planet.

Keep on reading!

While I enjoyed Beetle Boy, I’m more of a fan of MG Leonard’s train adventures: The Highland Falcon Thief and Kidnap on the California Comet.

And you can find out more about insects, mollusks, and worms in Nathalie Tordjman’s The Book of Tiny Creatures.