Beetle Busters: A Rogue Insect and the People Who Track It (Scientists in the Field)

With ostentatious striped antennae and an iridescent blue sheen, the Asian longhorned beetle is "a stunner," as Burns puts it. But looks can kill: the insect, introduced to the U.S. in recent decades, is massively destructive, chewing up many of America's hardwood forests. Photographs of the species, trees pockmarked by the beetle's "exit holes," maps, and details about scientists' efforts to remove infested trees create a narrative that unfolds like a detective story. In her third contribution to the Scientists in the Field series, Burns delivers a fascinating look at the origins of an invasive species and efforts to combat the damage it causes. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)

Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 5-9--They arrived unseen, burrowed in wooden pallets, spools, and crates, aboard ships from China. The first group spotted in the United States, in Brooklyn, NY, was contained, and quickly taken care of, but since then infestations have been discovered from Massachusetts to Illinois, and as far north as Canada. They're Asian longhorned beetles, pests with "powerful jaws and a taste for wood" and the frightening potential to eat their way through North American forests. Griffin takes readers alongside a team of dedicated scientists and citizen volunteers working to eradicate this invasive species in a quarantined area in Worchester County, MA. Along the way, she explains how the creatures can go undetected for years (their life cycle begins inside trees, which keeps them heavily camouflaged) and offers information that early studies on the creature have yielded--not all of it hopeful. Abundant, close-up, color photos of the insect (from egg to pupa to mature adult), damaged trees, onsite workers, and informative labeled diagrams and maps help tell this disquieting story. Burns questions the approach of the scientists she followed and both admires and "trusts." But for her, the story is also personal. The author lives within the quarantined area in Massachusetts and has seen firsthand areas where swatches of infested (and other) trees have been cut down. Her questions about the method employed will leave readers asking some of their own--as they should. A timely, well-told story and a call to action.--Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

* "A splendid example of science controversy in everyday life."
—Kirkus, starred review

"Burns delivers a fascinating look at the origins of an invasive species and efforts to combat the damage it causes."
—Publishers Weekly

* "This fascinating, timely book might just change the way readers look at insects and trees for good."
—Booklist, starred review

"The subject and the youth of many of the participants give this title an immediacy unusual even in this excellent series, bridging the gap between scientist and reader in a way that invites kids into the process."
—Bulletin

"Clear photographs, charts, diagrams, and a straightforward text with appropriate scientific vocabulary outline the problem, from the beetle's invasion and difficult discovery to the trees' destruction and replanting."
—Horn Book Magazine

* "Abundant, close-up, color photos of the insect (from egg to pupa to mature adult), damaged trees, onsite workers, and informative labeled diagrams and maps help tell this disquieting story...A timely, well-told story and a call to action."
—School Library Journal, starred review