With a female lead who is obsessed with bugs, and as a person who generally doesn’t love them, I still found this interesting and insightful and wasn’t skeeved out for the most part. It was well-presented, IMO. I felt stressed out when she did, excited when she did … it was very cute, and very well written with lots of ‘showing’ (as opposed to telling).

Very well executed—I’ll need to explore more from this author.

Overall:
So sweet, and fun. I recommend this to all ages—4.5 stars.


🎧Audio:
Absolutely fantastic audio production—professional, adorable, and such an easy listen. 5 stars.

This was such a good story! I expected to be at least a little entertained and enjoy a cute story, but what I got was a whole rollercoaster of emotions and excitement. Liberty is a fun kid who likes what she likes and is only a little embarrassed by it. She’s going through losing her best friend I who moved states, trying to maintain their friendship through video calls, and keep her and her father’s insectarium (and home) running. It’s quite a lot for a young girl to shoulder and I think it is great that you see her go through a lot of different emotions. The intensity ramps up even more once you throw in a budding friendship, and suspicions that someone is going to “buglar” the insectarium! You get a lot of great reference to a great classic of my youth, Home Alone. I also like the research Walsh put into the insects and their habits. It was fun to learn some new things and I think it would be great for a younger reader too.
Gail Shalan does a wonderful job bringing all these characters to life in the audiobook. She portrays ALL the emotions and chaos of these kids and made it a very enjoyable listen!

What a cute book!! This middle grade read was endearing and fun even as an adult! I consumed the audiobook ALC which has a 4 hour run time which when I sped it up to 2x speed was able to do in half the time making it a very quick read.

It’s narrated by Gail Shalan and she did a fine job with her performance with one minor challenge. While I enjoyed how she portrayed the FMC Libery Jacob’s young voice her choice for her friend Emmys voice made her sound much too young for the middle-grade range as she sounded like a toddler. Had this been a longer book that I had to listen at regular speed throughout, I’m not sure I would have been able to deal with it. But I’m an adult and a young reader may experience it very differently. That being said she narrates at a great pace for the 1x speed. The narration really allows the reader to jump into the story as well.

For the book itself it’s chock full of information about insects but done in a fun and engaging way of Liberty and her friends stopping a potential “Bug-lary” (bug burglary) “Home Alone” style. It was such a great way to engage young reader in not just reading but STEM topics.

I highly suggest this book for 3rd grade on up.
I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC from ZonderKidz through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.


My rating system for Middle Grade and children’s books

⭐️ Significant problems and would never recommend to the audience.
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea but may have some appeal.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ an ok book which I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend but it has some value for young readers
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! I would recommend for the age or reading level appropriate for the book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Would recommend highly, especially to school programs as a wide spread reading opportunity.