Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2014
400 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
If you're a fan of John Green, Michael Grant, Stephen King or David Levithan, get your pincers stuck into this. In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend Robby have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things. This is the truth. This is history. It's the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it.
Funny, intense, complex and brave, Grasshopper Jungle is a groundbreaking, genre-bending, coming-of-age stunner.
"Starred Review. Filled with gonzo black humor, Smith's outrageous tale makes serious points about scientific research done in the name of patriotism and profit, the intersections between the personal and the global, the weight of history on the present, and the often out-of-control sexuality of 16-year-old boys. Ages 14–up." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. [T]his is a mighty good book. It is about everything that really matters. Plus voracious giant praying mantises." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. Original, honest, and extraordinary… pushes the boundaries of young adult literature." – School Library Journal
"Andrew Smith is the bravest storyteller I know. Grasshopper Jungle is the most intelligent and gripping book I've read in over a decade...Trust me. Pick it up right now. It's a masterpiece." – A. S. King, Printz Honor-winning author of Ask the Passengers and Please Ignore Vera Dietz
"In writing a history of the end of the world, Smith may have just made history himself." – John Corey Whaley, Printz Award-winning author of Where Things Come Back
This information about Grasshopper Jungle was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Andrew Smith is the award-winning author of several Young Adult novels, including the critically acclaimed Grasshopper Jungle (2015 Michael L. Printz Honor, 2014 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Carnegie Medal Longlist) and Winger. He is a native-born Californian who spent most of his formative years traveling the world. His university studies focused on Political Science, Journalism, and Literature. He has published numerous short stories and articles. The Alex Crow, a starred novel by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and Booklist, is his ninth novel. He lives in Southern California.
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