What’s your favourite animal?

Beetle Boy

Written by: M.G. Leonard @MGLnrd

Illustrated by: Julia Sarda

Published by: Chicken House @chickenhsebooks

Published on: February 2016

Price: £6.99

First line: Dr Bartholomew Cuttle wasn’t the kind of man who mysteriously disappeared.

Genre: Adventure, Mystery, Animals

Age: 10+ (quite violent)

Thanks to my local library for the review copy.

What’s it all about? Darkus Cuttle has had a difficult start to life. His mother died when he was young. Now, his father has disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Darkus knows that he isn’t dead, but no-one else seems that interested in finding him. Soon Darkus finds some support through his Uncle Max and two friends in his new school: Bertolt Roberts and Virginia Wallace. Soon, they create their own gang against the world and become coleopterist (beetle scientists). However, it’s not just them who are interested in some ‘unusual’ bugs in the house next to Uncle Max’s, but scary villians, Humphrey and Pickering and the terrifying Lucretia Cutter. Can they find Dad and save the beetles?!

Why should I read it? A great read. Exciting, emotional and a roller coaster of excitement and discovery! I read reviews that said it was Dahlesque. I can’t really see this. I mean, the main character is a poor orphan like in many of Dahl’s stories and the cousins are Twit like, but also just great baddies. I read reviews that said it was funny. I didn’t find that. Not in a bad way, but I just don’t think it was supposed to be. However, I loved it. Darkus is a great character. I love the name firstly. In fact, I like all the names of the characters – all really original: Bertolt! Darkus goes through trials and tribulations aplenty but deals with them in a strong, courageous way. Perhaps it’s the mystery element, the locked room mystery that captivated me at the start. Perhaps it’s the sense of fear developed at the beginning, the unknown and desperate. I found the two friends intriguing and nice varied characters. I wasn’t quite sure why the school bully was in the story, as apart from being at school for a few chapters and seeing Darkus in the street, they don’t really get developed or become part of the story. I guess it helped him to show how he could control the beetle, but there could have been other ways to do that. Initially, I thought that the dad had turned into the beetle, but I was wrong. Were there clues dropped deliberately? Who knows?! Lucretia (I still know how to say her name properly) Cutter is a dark character and I was surprised how much violence there was. The story runs at a good pace with exciting moments of action interspersed with quieter moments of self reflection and character development. The final battle is exciting and dramatic!