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The Stinkbug Chronicles #1: The Invasion has begun!

By George Reagan

Illustrations by Lucia Benito

Published by CreateSpace           3/18/2014

1-49486752-2

Age 7 to 9         56 pages

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“Nine-year-old Brandon Phillips loves insects of all kinds. When he chooses to study stinkbugs for the 4^th Grade Science Fair, he learns there is more to these peculiar creatures than meets the eye—or the nose! Join Brandon as he begins the exciting journey of learning about and becoming best friends with Walter, a stinkbug that is no pest at all, along the way the two buddies embark on new adventures and learn valuable lessons about life.”

Opening

“Oh no! The invasion has begun! I really hate this time of year.”

Review

Tawny, Brandon’s sister, hates stinkbugs—any insect, really—but Brandon loves this time of year when all things insect embark upon the world. Much to Tawny’s disgust, Brandon begins catching stinkbugs for his science fair project. He plans to study why stinkbugs act differently than other bugs act, yet he has no other bug to compare with the stinkbug. Tawny sneaks a label onto Brandon’s greenhouse stinkbug home—a hamster cage—calling it the Stinkitorium and the name sticks.

Brandon’s science fair does not go as planned, but he does return home with one remaining stinkbug: the stinkbug that followed Brandon around, watching his moves. Walter, the name Brandon gave this mysterious bug, could also speak to Brandon. We find this out more than halfway into the story. From this point on, any physical action stops. The story becomes a conversation between Brandon and Walter. We learn that Walter is not a stinkbug, which would explain why he could survive a flush down a toilet.

In reality, Walter is an alien sent to protect Brandon from alien forces out to destroy Earth. According to Walter, humans are not capable of fighting this alien, but he and the other stinkbug-aliens can. This also means we humans need to stop flushing stinkbugs down the toilet. The story ends with Brandon feeling safe with Walter’s presence and protection. The danger still lurks, apparently waiting for book two.

The Stinkbug Chronicles #1: The Invasion has Begun could become a good chapter book series if the writing—which is rather good—actually told the story, the story the title suggests, rather than meandering with introductions. The Invasion has Begun could have gotten off to a bang-up start. Nothing close to an invasion happens, though Walter does speak of an invasion.

It takes over half the book just to find out Walter can speak. This should have occurred early in the story. All the early chapters—6 ½ out of 8—revolve around catching stinkbugs for a failed science project, which is unneeded backstory. Weave this into the story later, if a reason should present itself. Get right into the story:  Walter can talk, is an alien, and here to protect Brandon from an impending alien invasion. Get on with the invasion that “has begun.”  Yes, I do realize it has a double meaning: the invasion of bug season/invasion by aliens bent on destroying Earth.  The story ends on a down note of Brandon stating he feels safe from an impending invasion. Boring! The ending should have me anxious to read book #2: Don’t Let that Bully Bug You! I should end the story wanting to read more, wanting to know what will happen next. I felt none of those things.

The Invasion has Begun felt like a safe story. A story to test the waters. Granted one of the main characters is a stinkbug, not your everyday leading man. The stinkbug angle gives the story intrigue before a word is ever read. It made me curious. So curious, in fact, that I read the book just minutes after opening the postal bag. I hate stinkbugs, and yes, they go right into the toilet for a one-time swimming lesson that each one fails. Walter would have been back in my living room taunting me, and I would be happy to have him. I like Walter. I believe this is the first story I have ever read with a stinkbug as protagonist and may be the only book ever to have such a co-leading character. Take advantage of this. Get Walter in the story pronto.

The Invasion has Begun, a new chapter book series, is well written, if off topic. Writing a good story takes more than great writing. It takes writing a story that matches the title—or a title that matches the story. I thought the story would climax at the science fair, but that ended without fanfare. As a reader, I feel cheated. Will I believe the next book will finally involve the impeding invasion? No. From what I have read, book 2 is about Brandon and a school bully—not about an alien invasion as referenced in book 1. I’m afraid this entire series, which might be good as standalone books, never addresses the alien invasion that Walter has come to protect Brandon. Instead, the series diverts into message stories. The stinkbug Walter is nothing but an analogy. From a PR Mr. Reagan placed on Piece of Cake PR:

“I’ll be using the stinkbug analogy to draw young readers’ attention to a range of important issues they might encounter at home, at school or in the neighbourhood. These will include bullying, good sportsmanship, protecting the environment and understanding children with Asperger’s Syndrome; everything will be addressed in a fun and light-hearted approach, even if the final message is quite a serious one,” says Reagan.

Would I like to read book 2? Yes, I thought I would, until realizing that the setup in book 1 is nothing but a red herring. As I said, the writing is very good, but kids expect consistency. Tell them the series is about an impending invasion and a little alien who has come to protect a kid, and that is the story they expect to continue reading. Not life lessons. Not school bullies—unless they are the attacking aliens. “Life lessons” may find their way into the story, but as the only the reason for the story? Book 1 sets up an impending invasion. I feel cheated, as will kids.  Kids will feel cheated and not care about book 3. I’m not even sure this is a series as the story does not continue in the next book, and probably goes off subject again in the third book.

The Stinkbug Chronicles could become a new, well-received chapter book series. The idea is different and unusual. But once you state that Walter is there because of an impending invasion and to protect Brandon from that invasion, you must stay on point. Kids will be disappointed.

THE STINKBUG CHRONICLES #1: THE INVASION HAS BEGUN! Text copyright © 2014 by George Reagan. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Lucia Benito. Reproduce by permission of the publisher, George Reagan, Gloucester MA.

Buy The Stinkbug Chronicles at Amazon—CreateSpace—Author’s website—your local bookstore.

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Learn more about The Stinkbug Chronicles HERE.

Meet the author, George Reagan, at his website:   http://www.reaganwriting.com/

Meet the illustrator, Lucia Benito, at her website:  tuolvidastodo.com

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Also by George Reagan

Longshot—Somewhere Between Slim and None

Also by Lucia Benito

Amira Goes Night Night

The Tale of East – A Little Elephant with a Very Long Trunk

Danny and the White Horse    

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Our good friend and faithful follower Jana has written and told us about a good and funny book:

My older son seems to only love funny books (Diary of a Wimpy Kid...) so to get him reading something I pulled out an oldie but a goodie, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. He whipped through it and is on to Superfudge! Yay Fudge!!

Yay, Jana! We alsways appreciate hearing about funny stuff. I heard the audiobook version of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and enjoyed it a lot. If you want to read more funny stuff, try the Alvin Ho books by Lenore Look, How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell, or Science Fair by Dave Barry. If you want to see reviews, click on the tags below this post.

Keep laughing, guys!

Carl

Tis a sad day for the "Boys Rule Boys Read Blog." I'm looking at this poll Jedi Master Zack put up and it is showing yours truly as the leading candidate for the "Girl Book" crime in the Boys Read Section of the library. I would also point out that Jedi Master Zack put this poll up. Is it not curious how he accuses everyone in this poll but himself (just think about it). Jedi are notorious for manipulating other, check it out:

This is from Star Wars Episode 4 "A New Hope." This clip from the movie clearly shows how Luke and Obi-Wan hedge the truth and use mind control on some honest, hardworking Stormtroopers just doing their jobs to keep from being arrested for possessing droids that are in fact not theirs, but the Empire's!!!!!





I apologize to Ellen, now that this new evidence has come to light, and would now like to reveal the true culprit of this crime.......Jedi Master Zack!!!!



Just appalling isn't it!!!! Typical Jedi behavior if you ask this Sith, sigh ):


And Now For Some Really Excellent and Exciting News..... Jay Piscopo's visit schedule to the PLCMC System has been finalized!!!!! For those of you not familiar with the most awesome Mr. Piscopo check out the following posts to learn more about him and his great "The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli" Graphic Novels:

http://jaja-cas.blogspot.com/2009/01/gigantic-and-most-excellent-anouncement.html

http://jaja-cas.blogspot.com/2008/12/captn-eli-news-graveyards-avengers-and.html

http://jaja-cas.blogspot.com/2009/01/darth-bills-picks-of-2008.html

http://jaja-cas.blogspot.com/2008/07/interview-with-jay-piscopo-of-undersea.html



This is not an event to be missed so mark your calenders!!!!!!!!!!




What: Jay Piscopo , author and illustrator of “The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli,” will be visiting various PLCMC locations in April presenting Drawing Workshops, discussing his Graphic Novel Series and answering any questions you have about Comics and Graphic Novels. If you have any questions about these events please call the participating libraries. Reservations for kids 7 - 12 years old is encouraged.

When & Where:

Monday, April 6:

ImaginOn 11:30 AM
704-973-2720

North County 2:30 PM
704-416-6000

ImaginOn 6:30 PM
704-973-2720

Tuesday, April 7:

Mountain Island 11:30 AM
704-416-5630

Morrison 3:00 PM
704-416-5421

Matthews 7:00 PM
704-416-5000

Science Fair by Dave Berry & Ridley Pearson -

This book is too funny!!!!!!! Imagine if you will a story that involves 3 fairly normal kids (although not in the popular set at school - how many of you can identify with that): Toby (the main character), Tamara and Micah. Now throw in a very small and poor country named Krpshtskan, ruled by Grdankl the strong - son of Bmepl the Brave and grandson of Kminkt the Good at Remembering Names, bent on destroying the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />United States of America. Other necessary ingredients include a science fair project entry that involves floating a pet frog named Fester, various government agencies in hot pursuit of the kids, police in hot pursuit of a Wienermobile, an ally in a mad scientist who constructs things you would not believe and a Science Fair held at a middle school that brings the United Sates to it's knees. The last ingredients would be a rather large hairy man known as the Wookie and an individual convinced he is Darth Vader battling Toby's father dressed as Luke Skywalker and his mom dressed as Princess Lea (Jabba the Hutt Slave Costume) and just so much more stuff I don't have room to write about. This is a Very Funny Book and I highly recommended it along with everyone else who has reviewed it on this Blog and others!!!!!!<?xml:namespace prefix = o />

Our faithful firend anonymous has written to us again! This time it's about a Dave Barry book:

New Book Review
I just finished a very Funny and COOL book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.The book is called "Science Fair". Toby Harbinger and his two best friends, Micah and Tamara are students at Hubble Middle School near Washington, D.C. Every year the school has a science fair and for the last few years, the rich kids have been winning the prizes by cheating. They, with the help of their super-ambitious parents, have been paying someone to do their projects for them. Well this year Toby and his friends want to try and change this. Toby has a special reason for wanting to win the prize of $5,000.00. He made the BIG mistake of selling his Dad's "priceless" original Star Wars blaster to a guy who thinks he is Darth Vader. Toby's parents are HUGE Star Wars fans. They have a whole basement of movie memorabilia, like costumes the cast wore, models of star ships, light sabers, etc. Unfortunately, now this Darth Vader wannabe wants the rest of the collection. That would be bad enough, but once Toby and his two friends start to investigate how the ME (Manor Estates) kids are getting their projects done for the science fair, things quickly become more complicated.This year, an EVIL mastermind has gotten himself involved and is planning to use the science fair as a way to destroy the United States.

There are a lot of chapters in this book that were fun to read, but several of my favorites are, (1) a chase scene where our heroes are being chased by federal agents and police while riding in the Oscar Mayer Wienermoblie, (2) a duel between Toby's father dressed in a Luke Skywalker costume and the wannabe Darth Vader using light sabers and finally (3) the various "adventures" of Fester, Micah's frog who is part of his science fair display.(Just try and imagine a frog "floating" in mid air.) Of course, I won't tell you what happens; you are going to have to read for yourselves about this and the rest of what happens at the science fair.

Will the Evil mastermind manage to use the science fair displays to destroy the US?
Will an other ME student win the top prize this year?
Will Toby's Dad beat Darth Vader or lose his priceless collection?
Will Fester really float?
Once you start reading, you won't want to put the book down!!!

Thanks again, anonymous! Oh, man, this sounds good! Floating frogs, duels between a fake Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader--how much better could it get? I know we have a lot of Star Wars fans out there--do any of you have huge Star Wars collections in your basements or bedrooms? Let us know!

Carl

It's been a good day for bibliographic instruction. I showed two mom-and-son pairs how to use our online research resources to find science articles. As inevitably happens, an hour later, each mom was still sitting at the computer searching for articles while son read a book and/or socialized with friends.

I had trouble keeping a straight face when the one mom explained her son's topic to me. "It's about water absorbency... and which fibers work better to wick moisture... The teacher said she thought it was a good idea. She hadn't heard of anyone doing it before." Of course I'm thinking, oh really? Replace "fibers" with "paper towels," and I've heard that topic more times than I can count.

Anyway, I promised I'd start a tally of science fair questions I get this school year. So, here it is.

On the whole, I like my job as a children's librarian. There's a lot of variety. I don't have to talk quietly. I get to interact with kids, sing dumb songs, draw pictures, and lots of other fun stuff. I get to help people find books they'll enjoy or that will answer their questions, which is incredibly rewarding.

Of course, the job has its down-sides, too. Sometimes it's noisy. Sometimes it's messy. Sometimes patrons are rude or passive aggressive. Sometimes patrons send you on wild goose chases after books they swear they want, only to change their minds once you find them ten minutes later.

But there's really only one thing about my job I'd change if I could (getting paid twice as much for half the hours aside). Only one task I face on a semi-regular basis that makes my blood run cold and my shoulders tense and my heart start tripping away:

SCIENCE FAIR QUESTIONS.

My childhood school district did not do science fair—at least, not the way they do around here. It seems like everybody's doing it, from first grade on up. And they come to the library with questions like this:

• I need a book about the effects of rock music on hand-eye coordination.
• Are boys or girls better at optical illusions? What if they drink Red Bull? What if they mainline it instead?
• I need articles about whether baby rabbits react more violently to dijon mustard or Worcestershire sauce.
• And, winning the prize for most-frequently-asked question: Do you have a book about how Brawny paper towels are stronger than the store brand?

Whatever happened to good ole potato battery, baking soda volcano, and balloon racecars? Or seeing whether the bean plant watered with orange juice grows up stronger than the one dosed with Chlorox?

We've got hundreds of science fair books with ideas for projects. They don't have all the answers, but at least there's some scientific logic lurking in the background. But I see many kids that choose a topic without thinking about the science behind it. And then they come to the library expecting someone's actually written a book on these topics they apparently pulled out of their gluteus maximi.

I do the best I can. I try to help them pin down which areas of science will be relevant to their project, and we find books. I show them how to search for articles in InfoTrac and ProQuest. And then I creep back to my desk, feeling like an utter failure because I know they will never find a paper from a scholarly journal that proves tin cans get weaker if you boil them.

I scribbled this into a friend's sketchbook a few weeks ago at SPX.