Beetle Boy

by Margaret Willey

When he was seven, Charlie Porter never intended to become the world's youngest published author. He just wanted his father to stop crying. So he told him a story about a talking beetle—a dumb little story his mother made up to make him feel better. (That was before she left and feeling "better" became impossible.) But Charlie's story not only made his father stop crying. It made him start planning. The story became a book, and then it became school events and book festivals, and a beetle costume, and a catchphrase—"I was born to write!"

Because of the story, Charlie stayed seven until he was ten. And then it all ended. Or it should have. Now Charlie is eighteen, and the beetles still haunt his dreams. The childhood he never really had is about to end . . . but there's still a chance to have a story of his own. Beetle Boy is a novel of a broken family, the long shadow of neglect, and the light of small kindnesses.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction, Abuse, Teen, Friendship

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

I am the author of 9 Young Adult novels, 6 picture books & more on the way in both genres. I have also published reviews, essays and poetry. My best known books are the CLEVER BEATRICE picture books, for which I received many awards and prizes, including the CCBC Charlotte Zolotow award for best writing in a picture book. Recently, I was given the Gwen Frostic Award by the Michigan Reading Association for my contributions to literacy in my home state of Michigan. I have two grown children and live in Grand Haven with my husband Richard Joanisse.

I am the author of FOUR SECRETS,a book about the aftermath of a school bullying incident with graphic novel-inspired illustrations by Bill Hauser.
I am currently promoting my new title with Carolrhoda Lab, BEETLE BOY, about a different kind of bullying, the parental kind, and one boy's long journey out of childhood to escape it. Kirkus called the book "Disturbing and riveting" in a starred review. Starred review Publishers Weekly. Cited as a book of week for Sept 1 from PW.

Reviews

[Aidan Perry]

Overall I thought that this was a very good book. Going into it I didnt know if it was going to be slow paced or not my liking. But the more I read the more I liked it. The aspect I liked alot about this book was how our main Character Charlie was a mystery for the begining of the book. Not even his own girl friend knew about his past and why he acts how he acts. I thought the author paced this book really well. The book didnt drag too much, at points and was paced well. Some of my favorite lines are when Charlies girlfried Clara keeps asking him about his past and even he says "I dont even know". Which we clearly know that he knows. Some pros and cons I think in the book could be how late they introduced Liam Charlies brother. I think he should have show up in the present way sooner. But I like the way they had him show up it was cool and suprising.

[Julia (Pages for Thoughts) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved watching Charlie discover his identity and emerge from the shadow of his abusive childhood. By the end, I loved how Charlie was finally empowered and on his way to being a man and starting a real life

[Elliot myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had an interesting premise, one of child exploitation in media that isn't often talked about. I do however have issues with Charlie the main character, we barely see him grow and trauma does have an impact on someone but I felt as if there needed to be growth with Clara realizing boundaries and Charlie just not be such an unlikeable character that I often noticed I wasn't as engaged with the present parts as I was with the past. The only character I noticed development from was Mrs.M, as this made her my favorite part of the novel. The nightmare sequences while an interesting addition added nothing much to the story and wish they played more of a role in the story. The ending is where it truly did it for me. The ending felt so rushed and felt 0 connection between everything that had happened in those quick moments and left me ultimately unsatisfied.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kept waiting for Charles to grow up, to find his own voice and start making some of his own decisions. As a child, he was under the constant grip of his father, who forced him to lie and create a world for himself as the world’s youngest published author. Writing about the adventures of Beetle Boy, Charles didn’t enjoy the limelight but discovering a relationship with Mrs. M., a fellow author, was a definite plus. Charlie was living his dad’s dream. Alternating passages between present day and his past, Charlie’s past is haunting him. Living with his girlfriend Clara, she wants a part of Charlie that he cannot give; she wants to know about his past. His past that contains memories which are too painful to relive. I really thought I like Clara for caring for Charles after his accident but the more that I read, this trait just didn’t fit with her. She seemed to get a short-fuse over the smallest thing as she tried to talk to Charlie and she began to irritate me. The relationship with Charlie and Mrs. M. was special and enriching and I really enjoyed Mrs. M. She opens up herself to Charlie and he finds comfort in her, they both seem to have a drawn a line that they don’t dare cross. As the book came to a close, my jaw was falling, my voice screaming “no!” as I read the final chapter, I didn’t expect it to play out to that extent.

[nitya · Rating 1 out of 5]

honesrly kinda boring lol. the nightmare sequences were really interesting and liams final few lines were a gut punch but almost too much of the book was flashback and like a lot of people say the ending is too abrupt. also what was the point of the bold and italics and line breaks on clara's dialogue for half the books length??

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was alright, maybe just not my style. I was invested enough to want to finish it, but not enough to really care about the characters as much as I typically do. The ending was a bit abrupt too, like the author got a bit bored of it. It was alright though, a fair little read.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read. The girlfriend got on my nerves with her constant nosing around. I wished Charlie was the one who had broken up with her instead of the other way around. The ending was a bit abrupt, but I guessed that it had to end like that.

[Norah Leighton · Rating 1 out of 5]

did not enjoy. end felt anticlimactic and no characters were memorable or relatable. plain just did not enjoy.

[Raynee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a roller coaster from start to finish!! The contrast between present day and past views really helped to understand Charlie's pain and what he's going through.

[Ozma · Rating 2 out of 5]

???????????????

[jul · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fine book. like other reviews, i found the ending to be a little bit of a hasty wrap-up, but i enjoyed the writing style as well as the characters.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlie Porter never expected to have a girlfriend who cared this much for him. Enough to bring him into her home after he had surgery on his Achilles tendon and care for him while he could not walk. But now Clara is starting to ask pointed questions about Charlie’s childhood and his family, questions that Charlie does not want to answer. Clara knows that Charlie was once billed as the world’s youngest author and sold story books about beetles. She also knows that he has nightmares every night that usually involve screaming. She doesn’t know though that Charlie’s dreams are filled with huge black beetles or that the books he sold were not really his own stories. She doesn’t know that his mother abandoned him, that his father forced him to sell books, that his brother hated him then and still does for abandoning him. She knows so little, but can Charlie open up and let her see the truth about him without her leaving him entirely?

Willey paints a tragic and painful look at a young man continuing to wrestle with the demons of his childhood. At 18-years-old, Charlie continues to dream about his past and to live as if it is his future as well. The book shows how difficult dysfunctional and neglectful childhoods can be to escape, even after one has physically left if behind. Willey manages to create a past for Charlie that does not become melodramatic. She makes it painful enough but not too dramatically so.

Charlie is a very interesting protagonist. He is not a hero, because he is too damaged to be called that. He is certainly a survivor, wrestling with things that will not let him go or let him progress. He is frightened, shy, and can’t see a future for himself. He is a tragic figure, one that readers will root for entirely, but also one that drips with anger, shame and sadness. One of the best parts of the novel is the end, which does not end neatly or give a clear path for Charlie. The ending has hope, but continues the complexity of the issues that Charlie faces. Perfectly done.

A brilliant and powerful look at neglect and abuse and the long shadow it casts over a life. Appropriate for ages 14-17.

[Jerry Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am choosing to review this book by sharing a poem I wrote about it when I read it last spring.

Cautiously forging


A wig
A ‘too big’ suit
An award winner and the youngest

Fragile
Fake
Forced

Connect

Not in a friendly way
More bumbling
Brash
Sober
Yet authenticity

Time happens
Life continues to unfold
More bumbling
Brashness
Sobriety
Still authentic

Life isn’t easy
Needs and conditions
Uncovered

Grand parenting happens
Good for the ‘grandmother”
Good for the ‘grandson’

More confidently forging into the future

Oh that future
Full
Fragile
Real

Note: This poem is inspired by Margaret Willey’s young adult novel, Beetle Boy (2014) Published by Carlrohoda Books, Minneapolis, MN. The Society of Midland Authors recently honored Beetle Boy as a finalist for Children’s Fiction.

[Mrs Mac McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me a little while to get into but once I focused and had time to just read it, I enjoyed this story of a young man who was abused and then estranged from his family through a variety of circumstances and who needed to come to terms with his life and making decisions based on his future, not his past. Themes of forgiving oneself and others, one person making a difference, taking responsibility for ones life, letting go of what can't be changed and moving forward are all part of what makes this realistic fiction a book that can't be put down once you know the character.

I recieved this copy through Net Galley for an honest review. It will be published Sept 1.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

For most of this book I believed I would give it a solid three stars. I enjoyed the flashbacks but found the present plot (especially the nightmares) to be boring and slightly annoying. I found Charlie to be aggravating, and his constant lies frustrated me. Clara's persistent need to know every intimate detail and fix everything also bothered me. However, as the book went on I found myself more and more interested in adult Charlie. By the end, he had even redeemed himself to me. Mrs. M was an intriguing character. I loved her immediately.

In the end, four stars. The story definitely picked up for me, even if some questions are left unanswered.

[Courtenay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was required reading on craft for a conference and not one I would have ever chosen to read myself: male protagonist, main characters mostly male (boy, dad, brother) and bugs as a main reference point. But it surprised me. I especially liked the developments past the midpoint. And I could totally empathize with the female characters (girlfriend, honorary grandmother and birth mother) as the story unfolded. The analogy of the beetles through dreams was well told, and the screwed-up father well portrayed. Impressive story.

[Jeannine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a difficult to believe premise: that the main character's dad is a jerk who writes a book using tales his son learned from a now absent mother. He somehow tries to turn a profit with these stories. There would be so many other, easier ways to make a profit! They actually go to book fairs all over the place, an arduous endeavor that I have a hard time believing the dad would bother to do. The relationship between the boy and an older (rather grumpy) children's book author is nice, something unexpected.

[Marti]

Didn't finish. Kind of interesting but very dark and definitely not a YA book...

Main character has a LOT of emotional issues from his awful childhood. His mother left and his emotionally-abusive and negligent father promoted him as a child author and made him dress as a huge beetle at all of his "author" sessions. Younger brother was completely ignored. Only bright spot in his childhood was a rival author who kind of took him in. Alternates between present day and childhood flashbacks and dream sequences.

[Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't often say the grouchy mentor is the saving grace of a book because 95% of the time the mentor is the most unnecessary and unneeded cast member in any given book. However, Mrs. M was what took this book from a "???" very confusing and utterly incomplete one-star journey to at least a two. I don't know what the author was actually trying to accomplish with this and I have an inclination that she didn't either but I don't care because of that one old lady who couldn't give less fucks about anything especially the classic old-lady mentor troupe. You are a gift. 2 1/2 stars.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is an excerpt from my review: "The reader, much like Charlie's girlfriend, doesn't get all this information at once. The story of Charlie's past is told through flashbacks. And as the story progresses, Charlie's past starts affecting his present and now he's got to deal with old friends and old family before he can move on to the future."

You can read the full review here: http://cookscrapcraft.blogspot.com/20...

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Beetle Boy fairly well, but I doubt I'll be recommending it. For one, I'm a teen librarian and although I've seen this book described as a book for young adults, I'm not so sure. Not so much because of inappropriate content, but I just don't see the appeal for teens. Please let me know if you disagree, but although it was written well enough, the story didn't really grab me and make me want to keep reading.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will stay with me for a long time. I don't think I've ever read a more poignant story of the damage that an abusive childhood can do, even after childhood has been left behind. This book was heartbreaking and tragic, but beautiful. I cared so much about the characters, especially Charlie and Clara, and I wish I could see more of their lives.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

For as short as this book was it took me longer than I thought it would to finish. It was just difficult for me to get into the story. Between the dreams and the way the dialog was written I was just not very engaged in the story. Not really sure who I would recommend this title to. There is a lot of symbolism that could be used in the discussion of this novel.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I really enjoyed the style of the writing. The story was strange and I wanted it to end giving a better explanation of where Charlie was headed. I kind of felt it ended as though maybe he was going to live with another new elderly person and just go back into his same situation he had with Martha only maybe taking up the name "Chris" this time. I guess I just wanted a better ending.

[Joel Wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it and was captivated by it, but it left me wanting more than it had to offer. It had some great characters, especially the old lady that the main character befriends. I did like the contrast between the two parents, who both failed three kids but in hugely different ways.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

So freaking deep. Beetle boy is a sensational. Charlie Porter is struggling with a broken family, a long shadow of neglect but makes it through life with windows of kindnesses. Even though his childhood was stolen, he finds a way to survive. Beautifully written even with the torturous ending.

[Ramarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story kept me interested, this ultimately fell flat for me because the characters didn't seem fully fleshed out. The girlfriend was too good to be believed and I was especially puzzled by the mother--no real explanation for how and why the mother up and left her two sons.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real rating is 3 and a half stars. The character development in this story was non existent, let alone any development. They all were poorly placed and lacked any kind of clarity to them. It was not a good mysterious either. I just felt the story had so much more potential.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this quirky, original book about a boy whose dad trots him around in a beetle costume, claiming that he's the world's youngest published author.

[Cathy Blackler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haunting story of a dysfunctional childhood.