BUG GIRL

Twelve year old Lucia LOVES beetles: the tiny red ones, the giant horned ones—she loves them all. And when her scientist parents bring her along to a research station in Costa Rica—aka beetle heaven— Lucia is thrilled. 

Soon, Lucia finds a gorgeous silver beetle she’s certain is not in the guidebooks. It HAS to be rare—maybe even a new species! Except nobody believes her. Even her parents tell her she probably misidentified it and that twelve-year-olds can’t make discoveries. Fortunately, twelve-year-olds can pretend to be adult researchers online, which is what Lucia does to try and find anybody who will listen. 

A few days later, another researcher shows up … and Lucia’s beetle goes missing. Lucia knows the researcher took it but she has no proof, and without the beetle, no discovery. Now she needs to figure out a way to get her beetle back, and fast, because that world-renowned expert is coming, and if Lucia doesn’t have her beetle and is twelve rather than the adult she lied about being, her scientific career might be over before it has even started.

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BUG GIRL is a middle grade contemporary novel featuring girls in science. It would appeal to fans of the Friendship Code series by Stacia Deutsch and Halley Harper: Science Girl Extraordinaire by Tracy Borgmeyer.