12. Grasshopper Jungle, by Andrew Smith

Smith, A. (2014). Grasshopper jungle. NY: Penguin Group.

 The book is set in the town of Ealing, Iowa during a modern economic recession. It is narrated by the main character Austin Szerba. Austin often struggles with his own sexual thoughts and feelings for both his best friend Robbie Brees and his girlfriend Shann Collins. Although Austin focuses on the present, he also tells stories of his Polish ancestors. The reader later discovers that the novel is in fact Austin's self-recorded history.

While skateboarding through an alley and smoking cigarettes together near the Ealing Mall, Austin and Robbie are attacked by a neighboring gang of bullies, led by Grant Wallace.  They steal boy’s  skateboards and shoes and throw them onto the nearby roof of "From Attic to Seller Consignment Store" and proceed to beat up Austin and Robbie. Robbie bleeds all over the asphalt, which is significant to the story. After picking up Shann, Austin and Robbie head to the roof to retrieve their lost items. The boys discover some weird objects on the roof including a flamingo and film strips. They find their belongings and decide to sneak inside the store through the roof access. Inside, they discover several mysterious objects in the office of the owner, Johnny McKeon. One of these items is a large globe that was labeled “Contained MI Plague Strain 412E”. While snooping, they discover Grant Wallace and his friends (the guys that beat them up) broke into the store. They wanted alcohol from the liquor store next door but ended up finding the office and its strange continents.  They steal the glowing globe of “Contained MI Plague Strain 412E” instead.   The globe is shattered outside onto Robbie's blood stain as Robbie, Austin and Shann drive away. Unknown to anyone, the strain begins to take control of its first victims.

During a visit to a gay bar, Robbie, and Austin watch as one of the first infected, Hungry Jack, sheds his human exterior turning into a giant praying mantis after he is hit by a car.

Austin, Robbie and Shann found a secrete message in Shann's house, which was originally owned by Dr. Grady McKeon, creator of “Contained MI Plague Strain 412E”.  Shann, Robbie, Austin discovers an underground shelter under an abandoned silo. This bunker, known as Eden, was constructed in 1970's and was built by McKeon Industries. McKeon had been in charge of the production of the mysterious objects that the boys had found, including the vial of Contained MI Plague Strain 412E. The trio explore the facility and learn through watching a five-part film that McKeon Industries had been developing “unstoppable soldiers”, which in reality were large, invincible praying mantises. The project was so successful that Eden was constructed in the event of an outbreak to preserve mankind.  Outside of Eden, the praying mantises hatch out of their victims and begin to do their two favorite things: eating and mating.

On their way to retrieve the last two of the films, Austin is attacked by Hungry Jack, who, for unknown reasons, scampers away at the sight Robbie. The boys return to Eden and learn from the film that only Robbie's blood can defeat the creatures. Robbie's blood is extracted and placed into paintballs in order to fight back against the unstoppable soldiers. They return to the surface only to discover it is too late; the bugs have already repopulated and now completely outnumber them.

At the end of the novel, Austin confirms that they were not successful in reversing the effects of the plague and that the world has been taken over by large praying mantises. Shann gives birth to Austin's son Arek, and Austin and Robbie live their lives in the underground silo only leaving during the winter months to scavenge.

This book was quite different.  The genre is  young adult, sci-fi, coming of age novel.  It has a lot of sexual content, violence, and a dark mood, so I would not recommend it for younger readers.

The imagery in this novel stood out to me.  The image of the mantises is both crazy and important, as they show the thought process and pure randomness the author, Andrew Smith, had while writing the book.  Sometimes the randomness of the author’s thought process through Austin was hard to follow.

I didn’t find any study guides for this book, which is no surprise.  This is not the kind of book that should be taught in a classroom.  There is a sequel called Exile from Eden.