Beetles,lightly Toasted Library Book Grade 5: Harcourt School Publishers Treasury of Literature (Treasury of Literature 95y047) [Paperback]

Hb (Corporate Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Treasury of Literature 95y047

Fifth-grader Andy Moller will do anything to win the Roger B. Sudermann essay contest so that he can win fifty dollars and get his picture in the local newspaper. His cousin and rival, Jack, feels exactly the same way. But how can Andy be inventive and imaginative in an essay contest on conservation?



Bugs and beetles, that's how. Leave it to Andy to think of people eating insects as a way of conserving their food budgets. Before long he's preparing toasted beetles in brownies, mealworm-filled egg salad sandwiches, and batter-fried earthworms for his friends and family. They don't know what they're in for, and neither does Andy. Will he win the contest and lose his friends and family?

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Andy wants to win the annual fifth grade essay contest and get his picture in the local paper more than anything in the world. He thinks he has a pretty good chance, even though his ancient rival, his cousin Jack, will be competing for it, too. The class boycotts the contest when the essay subject is announced: conservation. But Jack's mysterious experiment involving hamburgers in a car engine galvanizes Andy, who comes up with an essay entitled "How Beetles, Bugs, and Worms Can Save Money and the Food Supply, Both." How? By eating themAndy discovers ways of preparing the critters, using family and friends as unknowing tasters, but not daring to taste them himself. This fast-paced novel, with its likable protagonist and strongly evoked rural Iowa farm setting will remind readers of Thomas Rockwell's How to Eat Fried Worms. But the family of black characters, described as having "skin the color of gravy," emerges as tired stereotypes. They run a soul-food restaurant and eat fried chicken, catfish and hush puppies; the kids slap each other's hands and say, "Hey, man, gimme five!" and "All right!" and they tend to drop verbs, as in "How you doing?" Though the interracial friendship between Andy and Sam is well-intentioned and serves as a positive element in the story, Sam the character is merely one-dimensional, a collage of hackneyed cliches. And such disappointment is hard to ignore, coming from the notable author. Ages 9-11.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Fifth-grader Andy Moller will do anything to win the Roger B. Sudermann essay contest so that he can win fifty dollars and get his picture in the local newspaper. His cousin and rival, Jack, feels exactly the same way. But how can Andy be inventive and imaginative in an essay contest on conservation?

Bugs and beetles, that's how. Leave it to Andy to think of people eating insects as a way of conserving their food budgets. Before long he's preparing toasted beetles in brownies, mealworm-filled egg salad sandwiches, and batter-fried earthworms for his friends and family. They don't know what they're in for, and neither does Andy. Will he win the contest and lose his friends and family? --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace College Publishers (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0153052244
• ISBN-13: 978-0153052248
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #800,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I guess I've been writing for about as long as I can remember. Telling stories, anyway, if not writing them down. I had my first short story published when I was sixteen, and wrote stories to help put myself through college, planning to become a clinical psychologist. By the time I graduated with a BA degree, however, I decided that writing was really my first love, so I gave up plans for graduate school and began writing full time.

I'm not happy unless I spend some time writing every day. It's as though pressure builds up inside me, and writing even a little helps to release it. On a hard-writing day, I write about six hours. Tending to other writing business, answering mail, and just thinking about a book takes another four hours. I spend from three months to a year on a children's book, depending on how well I know the characters before I begin and how much research I need to do. A novel for adults, because it's longer, takes a year or more. When my work is going well, I wake early in the mornings, hoping it's time to get up. When the writing is hard and the words are flat, I'm not very pleasant to be around.

Getting an idea for a book is the easy part. Keeping other ideas away while I'm working on one story is what's difficult. My books are based on things that have happened to me, things I have heard or read about, all mixed up with imaginings. The best part about writing is the moment a character comes alive on paper, or when a place that existed only in my head becomes real. There are no bands playing at this moment, no audience applauding--a very solitary time, actually--but it's what I like most. I've now had more than 120 books published, and about 2000 short stories, articles and poems.

I live in Bethesda, Maryland, with my husband, Rex, a speech pathologist, who's the first person to read my manuscripts when they're finished. Our sons, Jeff and Michael, are grown now, but along with their wives and children, we often enjoy vacations together in the mountains or at the ocean. When I'm not writing, I like to hike, swim, play the piano and attend the theater.

I'm lucky to have my family, because they have contributed a great deal to my books. But I'm also lucky to have the troop of noisy, chattering characters who travel with me inside my head. As long as they are poking, prodding, demanding a place in a book, I have things to do and stories to tell.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, June 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Beetles, Lightly Toasted (Yearling Book) (Paperback)

Andy Moller is a typical fifth grader, a great kid with a fantastic sense of humor. Andy's true gift, however, is his unbelievable imagination. Cooking insects as a food source is a great topic to write on. The book is very enjoyable with lots of family humor thrown in. A great read for kids of all ages. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on it soon!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I think it is a great book to read, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beetles Lightly Toasted (Paperback)

It shows how people will do something crazy just to win a contest this one boy Jack did a crazy thing like putting Hamburgers on his dads engine and Andy Moller is Jack's cousin he was cooking crickets in brownies and giving them to kids at lunch and the kids did not know.I like this book because they will do anything to get something.I think people today are the same way like if you want some candy you ask your mom can you have some money to go and get some candy from the store

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yucky!, May 10, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Beetles, Lightly Toasted (Yearling Book) (Paperback)

I really liked this book. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I thought it was gross when the people ate the bugs. UGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, you should really read this book if you LOVE anything gross.