Back of Book: 

Sixteen-year-old Austin Szerba interweaves the story of his Polish legacy with the story of how he and his best friend, Robby, brought about the end of humanity and the rise of an army of unstoppable, six-foot tall praying mantises in small-town Iowa.

To make matters worse, Austin's hormones are totally oblivious; they don't care that the world is in utter chaos: Austin is in love with his girlfriend, Shann, but remains confused about his sexual orientation. He's stewing in a self-professed constant state of maximum horniness, directed at both Robby and Shann. Ultimately, it's up to Austin to save the world and propagate the species in this sci-fright journey of survival, sex, and the complex realities of the human condition.

Book Number: One 

Genre: Young Adult | Science Fiction | Horror | LGBTQIA+ 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟 

A unique book that's more or less about a horny kid who's in love with his two best friends, mutant praying mantises, and the end of the world.

Austin is a boy who loves spending time with his best friend Robby and his girlfriend Shann. Unfortunately for Austin, he is in love with both of them and they both love him, which leaves him stranded in the middle of an awkward love triangle. But don't worry; it get's worse. When Austin and Robby inadvertently release a pathogen that turns people into over-sized mantises, it's falls on their shoulders to save the world before it's too late.

This book has got to be some of the craziest, unhinged stuff that I have ever read. It was bizarre, vulgar, and downright terrifying at times, but I was always intrigued to see what happened next. It would be a lie to say that I loved this book, but I never grew bored of reading the strange content that lays between the covers.

Austin really loves history and he comes to view himself as the historian of the end of the world. I could see how this extensive obsession with details could be annoying, but I personally found that it was an original concept that I've never really seen done before. I also often appreciated these breaks from the intense action, because I found much of this book to be really creepy and horrific, so these "history" moments gave me a bit of a breather.

I found it interesting to watch Austin debate with himself about Robby and Shann. I am convinced that he cares deeply about both of them, but I do wish their would have been a bit more character development with these three. However, due to how the story is written with just facts and Austin's opinions, I understand why some of this would have been lost in the writing style. Austin has to be the horniest character I've ever read about which was a bit much to stomach from time to time, but I know that the target audience of this book is teenage boys, so I understand why some of these ideas seem so whack and foreign to me.

The final thing I want to comment on is the ending. I totally did not expect it to end the way it did, despite the fact that Austin writes the entire account of this book in the past tense and releases many details out of order. There were several things in the epilogue that I found rather questionable, but I'm not going to bring them up due to spoilers.

Overall, "Grasshopper Jungle" has got to be one of the weirdest books that I have ever read and I can say without a doubt that I will not be forgetting it anytime soon. This isn't a book that I would typically picture myself reading, but I think that there was many interesting takeaways nonetheless. In a way, I'm still grateful I read it even though it was slightly traumatizing. I guess I have another book to add to the list of books that have scarred me for life! But can you truly blame me? This book is filled with eight-foot tall cannibalistic mantises. I see the allure of this for some people, but I am not one of them.

Back of Book: 

It’s been sixteen years since an army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises forced Arek’s family underground and into the hole where he was born; it’s the only home he’s ever known. But now, post-end-of-the-world, the army of horny, hungry praying mantises might finally be dying out, and Arek’s ready to leave the hole for good.

All he has are mysterious letters from Breakfast, a naked, wild boy traveling the countryside with his silent companion, Olive. Together, Arek and his best friend Mel, who stowed away in his van, navigate their way through the ravaged remains of the outside world.

This long-awaited sequel to the irreverent, groundbreaking Printz Honor Book Grasshopper Jungle is stunning, compelling, and even more hilarious and beautifully bizarre than its predecessor.

Book Number: Two (Last Book) 

Genre: Young Adult | Science Fiction | Horror | LGBTQIA+ 

Review: ?