Rex the Rhinoceros Beetle

BY M.G. LEONARD, ILLUSTRATED BY DUNCAN BEEDIE, SCHOLASTIC, £6.99

It’s safe to say that author MG Leonard thinks that beetles are fab. Her awardwinning, best-selling Beetle Boy trilogy turned into an international success story, wowing aged-7+ readers with stories starring curios Coleoptera. With Rex the

Rhinoceros Beetle, she takes her passion for these insects to a younger audience with this bedtime book for preschoolers, beautifully illustrated by Duncan Beedie.

The titular Rex is called upon by his buddy Buster to help carry a banana through the rainforest to the beetle tree. Along the way, Buster boasts of his bravery, but when the banana is nabbed by a passing monkey, it falls to Rex to save the day. If Rex proves half as popular as Beetle Boy then these scarabs are all set to introduce a new generation to beetlemania.