Breakout at the Bug Lab

by Ruth Horowitz, Joan Holub (Illustrator)

Overview

Max, a Madagascar cockroach, is as big as a bite-sized candy bar and hisses like a snake when he is mad. Leo and his brother are fascinated. Out of all of the bugs in their mother's bug lab, Max is definitely the best. But now, Max is on the loose in the lab! To make matters worse, there's a party there today. Leo and his brother have to find Max before he makes people scream-or worse.

"A book in which everything is just right." (School Library Journal)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142302002
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	11/11/2002
Series:	Penguin Young Readers Level 3 Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	767,907
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.15(d)
Lexile:	490L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ruth Horowitz has written many books for young children, including Crab Moon.

Joan Holub has written and/or illustrated many books for young readers, including The Garden that We Grew and The Pizza that We Made.

Editorial Reviews

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 Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

The first page of this easy reader sets the tone for a very funny story narrated by an unnamed boy whose entomologist mother works at a complex of scientific research labs, working with insects in the bug lab. "She studies dung beetles. They eat animal poop!" (What second-grader could resist that?) This cool scientist-Mom also has a large pet cockroach named Max (a Madagascan hissing cockroach, as we learn in the author's biographical note) that she keeps in her lab. The narrator and his brother are visiting the science labs to attend a special dedication ceremony when Max, the cockroach, escapes from his glass tank. The two boys manage to trap him with the help of Ruby L. Gold, the benefactor of the science labs, a gray-haired older lady who is most definitely not afraid of bugs (or boisterous little boys, either). The positive images of women are just one commendable aspect of this story, written at the 2.1 reading level, with short sentences, large type, and plenty of white space surrounding the text (which is divided into short chapters). Holub's (Why Do Dogs Bark, p. 110, etc.) watercolor, acrylic, and gouache paintings add to the humor, especially her illustrations of the buggy-eyed Max. Horowitz (Crab Moon, 2000, etc.) injects lots of droll wit and sly puns into the tale, along with interesting bits of information about insects and scientific work. New readers will enjoy this on their own, but the story will also work well as a read-aloud in first- and second-grade classrooms. (Easy reader. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews