Beetle Boy (10th anniversary edition)

by Leonard, M.G. | Interest age: from c 9 years
Published 07/05/2026 by Chicken House Ltd in the United Kingdom
Paperback | 336 pages
128 x 198 x 24mm | 228g

The first book in the bestselling BATTLE OF THE BEETLES

series – perfect for fans of Roald Dahl!

Winner of the Branford Boase Award Shortlisted

for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize Shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Children's Book

Award Chosen for the Tom Fletcher Book Club

'Truly great storytelling.' MICHAEL MORPURGO

'Funny, exciting and genuinely eccentric' PHILIP

REEVE

'Roald Dahl meets 101 Dalmatians in a rollicking

ride, full of adventure with vivid characters' EXPRESS

'By the end, you'll think beetles are the coolest creatures

on the planet' TOM FLETCHER

Darkus’s dad is missing – vanished from a locked room

in the Natural History Museum. The police are baffled; how can

someone disappear without a trace?

Moving in with his eccentric uncle, Darkus discovers a new friend

in a giant beetle – and it wants to communicate.

But can a boy and a beetle be friends? And can they find Darkus’s

dad together? 

The first book in MG Leonard's acclaimed trilogy, followed

by Beetle Queen and Battle of the Beetles!

Featuring exotic beetles, a daring quest, a mixture of

bold male and female characters and a truly venomous villain

Includes brilliant illustrations by Julia Sardà

From the author of Hunt for the Golden Scarab,

Twitch and the Adventure on Trains series, co-written

with Sam Sedgman