Breakout at the Bug Lab

When Max, a giant cockroach, gets loose on the day the television people are at their mother's bug lab to film a great event, two brothers are forced into action to catch him and put him away before it ruins the whole celebration that all the big shots are coming to attend.

K-Gr 3-When mom's giant cockroach, Max, escapes from his glass cage just before an important ceremony at the lab where she works, the young narrator and his brother find the bug but just can't catch him. Help comes from a woman with an unusual talent, resulting in a story that's as surprising as it is amusing. The text, written with a clever mix of sight and easy-to-sound-out words, reads less like a beginning reader and more like a real chapter book. There is a plot, a problem, and a solution, with real children who don't always follow the rules, a loving mother, and a great conclusion. Even the illustrations, with their rounded lines in shades of blue and yellow, have a warm, fuzzy, feel-good look to them. A book in which everything is just right.-Leslie S. Hilverding, Schuster Elementary School, El Paso, TX

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Gr. 1-2. The narrator and his brother think their mom has a cool job: she studies bugs at a nature lab that's just received a grant. When the boys attend the celebration, they discover that Max the hissing cockroach has escaped. Worried that Max may reappear during the party and frighten the guest of honor, the grant donor, the boys seek and capture the bug with some hilarious tactics and the help of a mysterious woman named "One-Shot L." The madcap adventure holds a nice surprise in the end when down-to-earth L's identity is revealed. Holub's appealing, bright illustrations capture this Dial Easy-to-Read chapter book's humor and suspense, and readers will enjoy the fun facts woven into the lively, well-paced text: "Our mom . . . collects robber flies. They carry their food with their feet. She looks at dung beetles. They eat animal poop!" Gillian Engberg
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