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A Glint of Exoskeleton
For over hundred years, humans have battled mosquitoes with pesticides. Now, the mosquitoes are fighting back. When their newly developed disease, leopard spot fever, is perfected, it will wipe out the human race.
Thirteen year-old Crick and her best friend (a cockroach named Peri) embark on a desperate mission to stop them. Their mission takes them to tropical Panama, where the mosquito leader is marshalling her forces.
But more than just mosquitoes await Crick and Peri, and soon they are running for their lives from the evil Dr. Dirk, in league with the mosquitoes.
They must use all their wits and draw on a host of insect allies, but will it be enough to survive and stop the mosquitoes?
Thirteen year-old Crick and her best friend (a cockroach named Peri) embark on a desperate mission to stop them. Their mission takes them to tropical Panama, where the mosquito leader is marshalling her forces.
But more than just mosquitoes await Crick and Peri, and soon they are running for their lives from the evil Dr. Dirk, in league with the mosquitoes.
They must use all their wits and draw on a host of insect allies, but will it be enough to survive and stop the mosquitoes?
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 8, 2016
About the author
Robinne Weiss
25 books5 followersOver the course of my career, I have been pleased to call myself an educator, entomologist, heritage interpreter, and an agroforestry extension agent, among other things. Through it all, I have written stories and poetry for my own pleasure. I published my first writing as a child in the 1970s, and used to confound my science teachers with poetry, scribbled at the end of essay questions. Now, after completing several novels, and having a number of short stories and poems published I'm happy to call myself an author.
My first love was the natural world, and it plays a large part in most of my stories. I have been fortunate to be able to explore the outdoors in much of the eastern United States, Canada, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, and New Zealand. I currently live near Christchurch, New Zealand with my husband, two children, four goats, three chickens and one evil cat.
My first love was the natural world, and it plays a large part in most of my stories. I have been fortunate to be able to explore the outdoors in much of the eastern United States, Canada, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, and New Zealand. I currently live near Christchurch, New Zealand with my husband, two children, four goats, three chickens and one evil cat.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 13, 2016
"A Glint of Exoskeleton" is a highly entertaining and extremely enjoyable read, with a wonderfully adventurous heroine. Throughout her life, Crick has been able to speak to insects. The story begins with a snapshot of events as she grows up: meeting Peri the cockroach at the age of 3, learning to hide her abilities, until she becomes a teenager and then the story truly begins.
Peri is a very important cockroach - he's decades old and basically the main spokes-bug for all the cockroaches in the world. And he has some terrible to report: the mosquitoes are turning against humankind. After decades of persecution, they've had enough and, with the aid of a mysterious and devious human associate, they are engineering a virus that will destroy the world. And who can stop them? Well, adults can't - they'd never believe Crick if she told them - so it's up to Crick to save the world. And to do that, she must find a way to get to Panama, the birthplace of "leopard spot fever" as it is known. A place where, already, villages have been depopulated by the virus.
The writing was very vivid, I've never been to Panama, but the prose was so descriptive, so evocative, I was transported to that land of rice fields and mud. I shared with Crick her sense of despair at being alone in such a foreign environment. But Crick is never really alone, because she has her insect friends to aid her and they do - in no small way!
There are a few darker moments (such as the fate of the evil conspirator), and a few that are creepy (Crick is stalked by her school friend, after she does the responsible thing and reports his self-destructive behaviour to his parents), which may make it a little disconcerting for the more sensitive readers, but these are well balanced with a healthy dose of humour, an action-packed romp of a plot, highly entertaining characters and a gutsy heroine. This book is almost guaranteed to make the reader look at insects in a different light (Weiss is an entomologist and her passion for her profession shines through), as well as educating them (so subtly that they'll hardly realise it's happening). A great read for adventurous girls, and boys too!
Peri is a very important cockroach - he's decades old and basically the main spokes-bug for all the cockroaches in the world. And he has some terrible to report: the mosquitoes are turning against humankind. After decades of persecution, they've had enough and, with the aid of a mysterious and devious human associate, they are engineering a virus that will destroy the world. And who can stop them? Well, adults can't - they'd never believe Crick if she told them - so it's up to Crick to save the world. And to do that, she must find a way to get to Panama, the birthplace of "leopard spot fever" as it is known. A place where, already, villages have been depopulated by the virus.
The writing was very vivid, I've never been to Panama, but the prose was so descriptive, so evocative, I was transported to that land of rice fields and mud. I shared with Crick her sense of despair at being alone in such a foreign environment. But Crick is never really alone, because she has her insect friends to aid her and they do - in no small way!
There are a few darker moments (such as the fate of the evil conspirator), and a few that are creepy (Crick is stalked by her school friend, after she does the responsible thing and reports his self-destructive behaviour to his parents), which may make it a little disconcerting for the more sensitive readers, but these are well balanced with a healthy dose of humour, an action-packed romp of a plot, highly entertaining characters and a gutsy heroine. This book is almost guaranteed to make the reader look at insects in a different light (Weiss is an entomologist and her passion for her profession shines through), as well as educating them (so subtly that they'll hardly realise it's happening). A great read for adventurous girls, and boys too!
Displaying 1 of 1 review