Reviews

Beetle Boy by M.G. Leonard

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When his dad goes missing in mysterious circumstances, Darkus Cuttle is determined to discover the truth. And then he finds a mountain of beetles next door who appear to be communicating with him...

Beetle Boy is a very engaging read, engagingly written and balanced well with a dark humour. Looking forward to the next in the series!

bookmadbarlow's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A brilliant middle grade read about beetles and bugs and how they change a boys life.
Darkus has to stay with his uncle Max as his dad has gone missing, but one day discovers a beetle that seems to understand him and this starts in motion an adventure to find his dad.
Darkus along with his new friends learn to love the beetles and make plans to solve the mystery.
Didn't expect to love this as much as I did, M G Leonard can make me love beetles and much as she did trains.

bretille's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

1librarianspath's review

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3.5

Read for world book day (nominated by the year six children).

Quite enjoyable. Lots of adventure. Some good information about different types of bugs and their diet and habitats too. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised.

the_fabric_of_words's review against another edition

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5.0

This series was interesting because we have a bunch of beetles where we live -- gorgeous green iridescent fig beetles, stink beetles, June bugs, Palo Verde beetles, Mesquite bugs and more. Of those, the only one I'd even remotely entertain on my shoulder would be a fig beetle and they tend -- unlike the beetles in this series -- to be exceedingly stupid and bonk into, well, whatever's in their flight path. And never handle a Palo Verde beetle - they bite!
Beetle Boy, by M.G. Leonard

Darkus Cuttle's father vanishes without a trace from the beetle room in the museum where he works. The 12-year-old goes to live with an Uncle who's determined to figure out what happened to his brother, and Darkus starts a new school, where he makes two new friends, Virginia and Bertolt.

He's about to get pounded by the school bully one day after school when a particularly large stag beetle saves him by flying into the bully's face and scaring him off. He decides not to keep the big guy in a cardboard box and instead tries to set him free. But the beetle seems to understand the boy, and sticks with Darkus and travels on his shoulder.

The beetles live in a pile of refuse in the apartment next door belonging to ever-bickering brothers, Pickering and Humphrey. Humphrey catches Darkus one time, when he tries to see into the apartment, and ties him up and locks him in the room with the beetles. He threatens to cook Darkus into a pie.

The beetles save Darkus and around the same time, he and his Uncle go to the museum to search for clues one more time and they find ...his father's glasses, but also an ominous yellow ladybug. Within minutes, the beetle collection's sponsor, Lucretia Cutter, shows up demanding to know who's been in her exhibit.

But there's something very odd about Lucretia, and Darkus pieces together how she and his father knew each other. As Darkus gets closer to finding his father, the fate of the beetles lies in his and his friends' hands.

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degroot_maartje's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

tcbueti's review against another edition

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4.0

Very suspenseful and exciting. 101 Dalmatians meets Home Alone. Solid writing. You feel Darkus' (Bakugan character; Urban Dictionary says good guy with a dark side) pain when his dad's missing, and during rescue. And very educational re: beetles, natch. A few bits too much, but listing them all IS sort of fascinating. Actually wished there were photos!

Lucretia is a super creepy villainess. The kids are great sidekicks, as are the beetles.

P201 "what happens if you genetically enhance the most adaptable species on the planet...most dangerous question I'd ever heard" (uncle max).

Max: Barty (Darkus' dad) Adventures in thought, in his mind. P197 type of person who changes history

Should scientific research belong to everyone? How does it get funded??

A few plot glitches: why didn't Novak end up in "the cells"? I thought her conversion was a bit abrupt, especially if her mom had been torturing her with bugs. But now I'm worried about her--why isn't Darkus? Also, Lucretia's transformation was ignored/dropped every time it came up. HELLO!!

Remaining questions: How's Novak? Will Gerard the butler keep helping her? Will she go to the private school he suggested to her mother? What's Lucretia's plan? Why did she want to kill, not capture, the beetles? Why is she turning (herself?) into a one ? (Does it have anything to do with the car crash 1 year ago (p102)? Why did she have Pickering & Humphrey sign wills? How DID the beetles get next door?

Food: cranberry (Humphrey's sauce), dung snacks ( truffles?) bananas

s_hay's review against another edition

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4.0

Darkus' father has gone missing. Everyone tells him that his dad ran off, but he disappeared from inside a locked room. His uncle takes him in and Darkus and Uncle Max begin to search for his dad. Darkus begins to learns secrets about his father, such as the fact that he loved beetle hunting as a child but never once took Darkus. Then strange things begin happening, and a beetle who adopts Darkus seems to communicate with him. It would seem that his dad has been kidnapped and beetles are somehow involved in the problem, the solution, or both. Book 1 with more to come.
Good for ages 10 and up (including people who do not love bugs).