Grasshopper Jungle takes place in a time where a recession is affecting the town’s economy. The once highly visited mall transformed into an abandoned ghost town. Two best friends (or are a little more than best friends), Robby and Austin, spend most of their time there. The boys have changed the mall’s name to Grasshopper Jungle; this is where they hang out, skate, and smoke!
While the two friends were hanging out, a couple of boys ask to use their skateboards. Robby immediately refused, and this earned Robby and Austin a beating. The bullies not only gave Robby a bloody nose which caused him to bleed everywhere, but they also threw the boys’ boards and shoes on to the roof of a consignment store.
After picking up Austin’s girlfriend, they decide to come back to retrieve their belongings and they enter the store without anyone knowing. They explore the store and unlock the owner’s office. Johnny McKeon, the owner of the consignment store From Attic to Seller, kept his secrets in his office. They were no ordinary secrets...there was nothing ordinary about them. The boys find sealed glass globes with different labels and body parts. They also saw giant bugs that looked like grasshoppers in tanks. Austin and Robby were not the only one who had broken in to the store. They heard noise coming from a group of kids, Grant and his friends, who had broken into the consignment store and dropped a globe that emitted blue light. Little did they know that the end of the world was near.
The boys decide to go to a gay bar. There, they see several unexpected things: a pastor visiting the bar and a man getting hit by a car. When they get near the body, they see a giant praying mantis coming out of the dead man’s body. They boys take off running and don’t look back.
Austin, Robby, and Shann find an underground chamber in which scientists were working on creating a species of unstoppable soldiers in the 1970s. These “soldiers” were created with a mission to save the world if it was ever necessary, but the experiment failed.
The teens continue to explore the chamber and find themselves in Eden, a safe place that was built to protect the survivors of a nuclear or any other form of attack. After looking around the area, they find films that give specific instructions on how to survive these attacks. That was the only safe place since these “unstoppable soldiers” were eating humans and reproducing quickly. Since Robby’s blood was what activated this plague, Austin’s plan was to use his blood and use paintball guns to shoot at the giant bugs! They engage in a battle to save humanity.
Unfortunately, they are unable to save the world. The friends and several other people remain in Eden and try to repopulate their new world. Austin and Shann have a baby together, Arek. They try not to leave unless they are looking for food and other items.
With all the sexuality in this book, I would feel uncomfortable using it in a middle school or high school classroom. In my opinion, this is a book that adults may read, at their discretion. One of the publishing companies created a short but creative trailer which you may access it by clicking on the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMBWd_6FwyI
Andrew Smith, the author of Grasshopper Jungle, was awarded the Michael L. Printz in 2015, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and the Carnegie Medal Longlist. He is certainly a talented writer. He was written Winger, The Marbury Lens, Passenger, Stick, Losing It, and several others.
If you enjoy science fiction and love giant bugs, you may also enjoy Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, Mort(e) by Robert Repino, The Mist by Stephen King, and Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters. You will see giant ants, flies, and bed bugs. Enjoy!
Author Andrew Smith. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2018, from http://www.authorandrewsmith.com/Author_Andrew_Smith/Home.html
Smith, E. (2015, March 27). Five Books in Which Giant Insects Ruin Everyone's Day. Retrieved October 22, 2018, from https://www.tor.com/2015/01/16/five-books-in-which-giant-insects-ruin-everyones-day/
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