'Boy Bites Bug' and the fun begins

It all starts when young Will Nolan swallows a stinkbug, essentially on a double-dog dare.

Will, a seventh grader and an aspiring wrestler, is the hero of "Boy Bites Bug," the latest young-adult novel by Rebecca Petruck. Amazon.com ranks it as being ideal for grades four through six.

Petruck earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2007 and made her debut in 2014 with "Steering Toward Normal," a funny, heartwarming tale about a Minnesota boy raising a prize steer and entering it in the state fair.

A former Minnesota resident, Petruck sets "Boy Bites Bug" in the same vicinity, not far from Rochester, Minnesota. Many of the parents in the novel work for the Mayo Clinic.

Will is just starting a new school year when stinkbugs invade the library. Will swallows one to defuse matters when his lifelong buddy Darryl calls the new kid, Eloy, a rude name. Eloy is Hispanic, but he's a third-generation American whose dad runs the local Mexican restaurant.

All of a sudden, for the first time in his life, Will becomes a celebrity — "Bug Boy." Everyone's suggesting he sample French "flies" or maggot-aroni. Things aren't so good between him and Darryl, though. Meanwhile, Will finds himself growing closer to Eloy, especially when Eloy goes out for wrestling, too, and they're the only two team members in their weight class.

Meanwhile, when the science teacher assigns a project on insects, Will is inspired to do the Best Class Presentation Ever. With a little research, he finds that entomophagy, or eating insects for nutrition, is a real thing. Back in 2013, in fact, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization urged consumers to eat more insects. They're a prime source of protein with low environmental impact and ideal for feeding a growing human population.

Then, thanks to Eloy, Will discovers that people eat fried grasshoppers as treats down in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Now, if he can only convince his classmates to sample some bugs, too …

Petruck clearly did her research for this tale. Her vivid descriptions of some insects' flavors suggests she tasted them herself. For those with stomachs of steel, some easy bug recipes are included in the novel's appendix.

Beyond that, "Boy Bites Bug" is a tender, low-key, frequently funny coming-of-age story. Will has to adjust to change, outgrowing some friends while making new ones. He also has a few tough lessons to learn about being respectful of cultural differences.

But it's not all Kumbaya. Minnesota kids must be terrible practical jokers. One "friend" ships Will a thousand crickets -- who, naturally, get loose in the Nolan house. (His high-school-aged sister is none too thrilled.) A meaner kid sneaks ants into his pants.

There's plenty of detail about the minutiae and tactics of amateur wrestling. A few readers with long memories might be reminded of Ellyn Bache's YA novel "Takedown."

Teachers and school librarians would do well to recommend "Boy Bites Bug" to some of their male students, particularly the ones who normally aren't wild about reading. This well-written story will grab them, and the gross-out factor won't hurt a bit.

Reporter Ben Steelman can be reached at 910-343-2208 or Ben.Steelman@StarNewsOnline.com. 

'Boy Bites Bug'

by Rebecca Petruck

Abrams/Amulet Books, $16.99.