The Summer of the Stag Beetle
Class 3-2's Great Insect Adventure

About this book:

When the final bell rings for Class 3-2, the real adventure begins—because King Hercules, a seven-centimeter stag beetle with mandibles like polished obsidian, needs a summer home. Through a high-stakes straw draw, eight lucky students win the honor of hosting the class pet for a week each, armed with a red logbook, a spray bottle, and strict rules: mist twice daily, never leave him in the sun, and whatever you do, don't let the ants find the jelly cups. From Leo's triumphant Week One to the final handoff before autumn term, the beetle's grand tour becomes a season of midnight escapes, sugar-water emergencies, backyard safaris, and a thunderstorm rescue that tests every young caretaker's courage.

Told with the warm humor and keen observation of a classic Japanese children's novel, *The Summer of the Stag Beetle* transforms ordinary summer days into a masterclass in responsibility, friendship, and the quiet wonder of the natural world. Readers will race through chapters titled "The Rival from Class 3-1," "The Treehouse Fortress," and "The Unexpected Molt," learning real entomology alongside Leo, Maya, and insect-obsessed Kenji—without ever feeling like they're in a lesson. The rotating caretaker structure creates a brilliant mosaic of perspectives, each child's home life and personality shining through their entries in the shared logbook.

Perfect for fans of *The Vanderbeekers* or *Because of Winn-Dixie*, this twenty-six-chapter journey captures that fleeting magic when a classroom project becomes a neighborhood adventure, and a "simple" insect teaches thirty-five eight-year-olds how to nurture something fragile, fierce, and utterly alive. By the time King Hercules returns to Room 204 in September, he's not just a class pet anymore—he's the thread that stitched a whole summer together.