Beetle Boy (The Battle of the Beetles, #1)

by M. G. Leonard

The first book in the bestselling BATTLE OF THE BEETLES series
- perfect for fans of Roald Dahl!
Winner of the Branford
Boase Award
Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book
Prize

'Truly great storytelling.' MICHAEL MORPURGO

Darkus
can't believe his eyes when a huge insect drops
out of the trouser leg of his horrible new neighbour. It's a
giant beetle - and it seems to want to communicate. But how can a
boy be friends with a beetle? And what does a beetle have to do
with the disappearance of his dad and the arrival of Lucretia Cutter,
with her taste for creepy jewellery?

• ISBN10: 0606401512
• ISBN13: 9780606401517
• Publish Date: 30 May 2017 (first published 23 February 2016)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 23 April 2023
• Imprint: Turtleback Books
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

I picked up Beetle Boy on a whim – I’ve heard lots of good things about the book on Twitter, so when I spotted the book in my local library (a brand new copy!) I snapped it up. I didn’t expect to read it so quick (or maybe at all, as I generally pick books up, want to read ‘em and then lose all interest – it’s not the book, it’s me, I am SO fussy and I have to be in the right kinda mood to read a book) but I picked it up immediately, and it’s a brilliant read.

At first I wasn’t sure it would be my kind of thing – I’m not a big bug fan. They give me the creeps. I despise cockroaches (when you lived abroad with them for thirteen years, you just know you’d rather live anywhere but where cockroaches also reside), spiders give me the creeps and I just don’t like bugs. I am, however, converted. I kind of want a Baxter of my own. It takes quite an author for me to think, “Man, I want to go out and buy a beetle,” but M.G. Leonard has managed that. It kinda reminded me of Ant Man, with the whole bugs willing to help humans kinda thing. I loved how open Darkus was to Baxter, to the whole beetle army thing, like he was just fine with beetles understanding what you’re saying and even answering you, in their own way.

It was an interesting plot, with Darkus wanting to find out what happened to his dad, who went missing. He’s staying with his Uncle in the meantime and he thinks his life is pretty normal, until a bug falls out of his neighbour’s leg and bam, his life is changed. Along with his friends Bertolt and Virginia, they set off to discover the truth about what happened to Darkus’s dad. This was such a fun adventure. It’s for ages 9-12, which actually amazed me because the language seemed a lot older, but I suppose 9-12 is that tricky age where you are learning bigger words, using your vocab more so a book like this will teach you lots of new words. Saying that, even I was taught some new stuff, because my bug knowledge before reading this book was seriously lacking.

M.G Leonard has written such a wonderful book. Characters you love, there’s lots of action and adventure and it went and made me want my very own beetle. A sentence I never thought I would type in my life, but there you go. I loved it so much, I’ve already ordered the sequel off Amazon and it will be with me shortly so I can dive in and boy, am I looking forward to that. I’m intrigued to learn more about Lucretia, she’s so bad as a villain like evil, but I’m dying to know what she did to herself?!? Plus more of three fabulous friends and lots of smart, wonderful beetles sounds good to me.