Meet Jarrod.
Jarrod loves bugs.
So much so that he’s earned the nickname ‘Bug-boy’ at school. He has a short attention span, preferring to study the bugs in his classrooms than to pay attention to the lessons. To top it all off, Jarrod has to wear a helmet to protect his head due to suffering from ‘moments’, times when he inexplicably faints. Doctors haven’t figured out what causes these spells.
One day Jarrod accidentally tumbles to the secret behind his ‘moments’. Jarrod finds his thing. By eating bugs, he gains access to their final memories. It’s through accidental ingestion of a fly on his way home from school one day that Jarrod learns there is a puppy mill being run in his very neighborhood. Can Jarrod use his unique gift to find the culprit and free the mama dogs?
I first came across Stewart’s works when I reviewed Keep in a Cold, Dark Place, and fell in love with this author’s style. The Boy Who Swallows Flies is a humorous tale of a most unusual superpower, but at its heart, it’s truly a tale about finding who you are deep down. About finding your thing, what you’re best at, and what you love in life. Jarrod is the outcast, the one nobody understands, or wants to be friends with, thanks to his love of bugs. No one except Gavin, his best friend. Despite all this, Jarrod has pluck and courage.
He also has strong morals, and principles. I cannae say I’d be willing to a) eat bugs for any reason or b) sacrifice my pets. I know most people would say there’s a big difference between kitties, and bugs, but I’ve kept less than normal pets and I still don’t think I’d have been able to kill my Emperor scorpions, any more than my cat. He did it to save puppies from horrid conditions though. Also, he learned quick that he didn’t like using his power for selfish gain.
Besides finding yourself, and your thing, adhering to your principles, I also saw lessons of learning to trust yourself, being open-minded, and never giving up. Jarrod had to learn to trust his gift, to be open-minded about eating bugs, and to not give up finding the mill, no matter what obstacles arose. I love that, in the end, he got to meet the forensic entomologist, and learn that there is an entire branch of science devoted to bugs. I think he’ll do much better in school with this as a goal to focus on.
Highly recommended!
Read my review for Keep in a Cold, Dark Place.
***Many thanks to Xpresso Blog Tours & the author for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
