Grasshopper Jungle

A 2015 Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Winner of the 2014 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction


"Raunchy, bizarre, smart and compelling." --Rolling Stone

"Grasshopper Jungle is simultaneously creepy and hilarious. Reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut's in "Slaughterhouse Five," in the best sense." --New York Times Book Review


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.
You know what I mean.

Funny, intense, complex, and brave, Grasshopper Jungle brilliantly weaves together everything from testicle-dissolving genetically modified corn to the struggles of recession-era, small-town America in this groundbreaking coming-of-age stunner.