An action-packed adventure story for kids who love bugs. There are a few places where the story gets "teachy", as Max, the main character, is a bug nerd:
"A line from his latest copy of Bugs Weekly magazine popped into his head. 'The first effect of the deadliest scorpion sting is intense, unbearable pain.'"
"A trap door spider, Max realized with a gulp. Bugs Weekly had featured them in a venomous species special. 'Fast, aggressive, and full of deadly venom,' it had said, 'with powerful jaws and sharp fangs, which they use to stab downward into their prey. They can also run extremely fast.'"
What nine-year-old kid remembers verbatim lines from a magazine? Is it necessary that the reader must know every detail? When the main character is the size of a flea, seeing a spider as big as a dinosaur is scary enough without even thinking about venom and how fast it can run. Just a few instances like that throughout the book, which was annoying to me and slowed down the action, but might not matter to a kid who's curious about bugs, or is caught up in the drama of the story.