The Fire Bug Connection (Ecological Mysteries) [Paperback]

Jean Craighead George (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Ecological Mysteries

"When a raven, flies at you, there will, be a murder." That's what Maggie's grandmother once told her, and the longer twelve-year-old Maggie stays with her parents at the Biological Research Station--or Bug Camp, as she calls it--the more she believes it. Soon after a raven's appearance, something strange happens to Maggie's beautiful new fire bugs. Instead of molting into the next stage, the bugs grow grotesquely large and seem to be doomed. Is global warming the culprit? Acid rain? Or...murder? One thing is certain--it's an eco mystery, and Maggie, with the help of Mitch, a young computer whiz, must try to track down the killer.In this environmental whodunit, 12-year-old Maggie can't figure out why her exotic and beautiful new fire bugs are dying so suddenly. Is it global warming, acid rain, or murder? With the help a young computer whiz, Maggie tracks down each ecological clue in a mystery that is ‘fascinating and (especially for budding naturalists) inspiring.'K.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7-- Maggie Mercer has a passion for bugs, a passion she gets to indulge every summer when she accompanies her scientist parents to a mountain research laboratory in Maine. While her mother and father study soil and plants, she collects insects and observes the behavior of a rich assortment of wildlife. When a graduate student from Czechoslovakia gives her a terrarium full of exotic, brightly hued fire bugs for her 12th birthday, Maggie is ecstatic. Unfortunately, the bugs soon begin to die. The larvae, instead of metamorphosing into adults, become grossly large after their fifth molt and explode. Someone, or something, is killing them. Maggie, and 10-year-old Mitch, a pesky computer hacker, investigate the bugs' "murder," using computer databases and scientific reasoning to examine every possibility. These investigations are so intriguing that readers may well be spurred on to further study. The Fire Bug Connection is smoothly written and well characterized. The initial prickly relationship between Maggie and Mitch adds an element of tension that is interesting and believable. Descriptions of Maggie's various experiments in animal behavior as well as general information on a number of ecological problems are skillfully woven into the plot. George's many fans will find this as satisfying as her Who Really Killed Cook Robin? (HarperCollins, 1991). --Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Fascinating and (especially for budding naturalists) inspiring." -- Kirkus Reviews

"These investigations are so intriguing. Smoothly written and well characterized." -- School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (February 3, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064404749
• ISBN-13: 978-0064404747
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,337,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jean Craighead George was born in a family of naturalists. Her father, mother, brothers, aunts and uncles were students of nature. On weekends they camped in the woods near their Washington, D.C. home, climbed trees to study owls, gathered edible plants and made fish hooks from twigs. Her first pet was a turkey vulture. In third grade she began writing and hasn't stopped yet. She has written over 100 books.Her book, Julie of the Wolves won the prestigious Newbery Medal, the American Library Association's award for the most distinguished contribution to literature for children, l973. My Side of the Mountain, the story of a boy and a falcon surviving on a mountain together, was a 1960 Newbery Honor Book. She has also received 20 other awards.She attended Penn State University graduating with a degree in Science and Literature. In the 1940s she was a reporter for The Washington Post and a member of the White House Press Corps. After her children were born she returned to her love of nature and brought owls, robins, mink, sea gulls, tarantulas - 173 wild animals into their home and backyard. These became characters in her books and, although always free to go, they would stay with the family until the sun changed their behavior and they migrated or went off to seek partners of their own kind.When her children, Twig, Craig and Luke, were old enough to carry their own backpacks, they all went to the animals. They climbed mountains, canoed rivers, hiked deserts. Her children learned about nature and Jean came home and to write books. Craig and Luke are now environmental scientists and Twig writes children's books, too.One summer Jean learned that the wolves were friendly, lived in a well-run society and communicated with each other in wolf talk -- sound, sight, posture, scent and coloration. Excited to learn more, she took Luke and went to the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory in Barrow, Alaska, where scientists were studying this remarkable animal. She even talked to the wolves in their own language. With that Julie of the Wolves was born. A little girl walking on the vast lonesome tundra outside Barrow, and a magnificent alpha male wolf, leader of a pack in Denali National Park were the inspiration for the characters in the book. Years later, after many requests from her readers, she wrote the sequels, Julie and Julie's Wolf Pack.She is still traveling and coming home to write. In the last decade she has added two beautiful new dimensions to her words beautiful full-color picture book art by Wendell Minor and others and - music. Jean is collaborating with award-winning composer, Chris Kubie to bring the sounds of nature to her words.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Firebug Connection, February 17, 2000

By 

LAUREN (Chicago IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fire Bug Connection (Ecological Mysteries) (Paperback)

The main character in this book is a girl named Maggie. Every summer she goes to bug camp. A boy named Mitch also attends the camp. Maggie doesn't like him and thinks he's a pest.

Her mom, who studies the effect of acid rain on trees also goes to bug camp. Mr. Capek, another graduate scientist, comes to bug camp. It's Maggies birthday when he arrives so he gives her a present: a collection of firebugs.

Maggie loves them because of their colors. She promises to make Mr. capek a pillow, which is stuffed with pine neddles from a balsam fir. Mr. Capek, Maggies mom, and a bunch of others go on a field expedition.

While they are away Maggies firebugs pop and die. She notices that they won't grow up and calls them " peter pans". Maggie suspects that its the ravens in the area that caused the problem since they mean death in Mr. Capek's country.

Mitch does many tests on Maggies animals including Areaneus the spider, Myotis the bat, and a wasp.

Finally, Maggie suspects that the paper in the bug cage is to blame. She wonders if the chlorine in the paper was the culprit. Mitch takes a bug and puts chlorine on it but its not a good test, because chlorine will kill any bug. Then Mitch finds out it was a hormone that wouldn't let the bugs grow. Since it was the hormone the mystery had been solved.

This was not such a good book because of many reasons. It all took place in the same setting without much excitment. I like mysteries but not this kind.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Does this book bug you?, April 12, 2001

By 

Isabel Harding (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fire Bug Connection (Ecological Mysteries) (Paperback)

Mystery and ecology collide--with varying fascinating, tedious, informative, thrilling, and confusing results--in Jean Craighead George's Eco-Mysteries series. The author of JULIE OF THE WOLVES, MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, and nearly one hundred other distinguished nature stories for young readers, Ms. George also wrote four mysteries--WHO REALLY KILLED COCK ROBIN?, THE CASE OF THE MISSING CUTTHROATS, THE MISSING 'GATOR OF GUMBO LIMBO, and this book, THE FIRE BUG CONNECTION. All include details into our environment and the factors that threaten to destroy parts of it. THE FIRE BUG CONNECTION falls a bit short of the other books in its series for a number of reasons. The story concerns a young entomologist named Maggie, and her enemy-turned-partner Mitch, as they try to solve the mystery of the deaths of Maggie's birthday present, a group of radiant fire bugs from the Czech Republic, at Maggie's home in a Maine Biological Research Station--Bug Camp. Mitch is convinced that global warming committed the crimes; Maggie immediately dismisses this idea (I never quite understood why). Acid rain is a factor, too, as well as chemicals that may exist in the paper in the fire bugs' containers, and, finally, the most unusual culprits, a raven and a balsam fir tree. The ending of the story seems overly complicated, but this may not be so for more scientific mature readers who, like Maggie and Mitch, know about the existence of many kinds of chemicals and where they can be found. I found myself concentrating less on the mystery of the destruction of the fire bugs and more on the amusing details around Bug Camp--Maggie's friends: a clan of bats, a wasp, and a spider--and how Mitch ever figured how to get rid of a computer virus without using a special disinfectant program. Anyone who is interested in the tiny but amazing world of insects and other "creepy" but splendid critters like ravens and bats, or anyone whose favorite things in school include science and reading mysteries, will find this book enjoyable, despite its occasional shortcomings.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two Thumbs Up In My Book, January 18, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Fire Bug Connection (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)

"The Firebug Connection" is definatley a book that's going to go on my favorite's list. Not only does it teach us many new things in the scientific field, it tells us we can make friends with first- thought foes. Maggie and Mitch are determine to find the answer to the baffeling question that has to do with the wierd non- adult- maturing adolescent firebugs. This book has a lot to do with nature, some of the words in the book are challanging as they were for me. Jean Craighead George is a celebrated author and a great one. She did awesome work on this Eco Mystery!