Polly the Praying Mantis comes from a bug-lab bred for a sole purpose: to take-out bad bugs on an organic farm. Too scared to fight, she watches a helpless aphid become an orphan. When she saves the little guy named Jackson she becomes a traitor to the Bug Army but especially to her mother, the Colonel.

Her adventure leads her  and Jackson to make friends with Emack, a rose-eating, spotted bat. Together, the three go on a journey to find The Special Apple Tree in The Garden where the four rivers meet (an allusion to the Garden of Eden).

Surprised by a crop-dusting airplane, Emack is knocked out and they fall to the conventional farm below. In a strange land covered in bug-poison, they meet a girl named Greta who shows quiet dignity in the face of childhood leukemia, and bees who are threatening to go on strike against the Farmer. Jackson gets abducted by spiteful Mutant aphids that ruin the crops on purpose, and Polly goes on trial for her life. Polly’s brave solution finally gives everyone peace and a chance for long, fruitful lives.

POLLY THE PRAYING MANTIS: A Bug, Bat, & Human Eco-Adventure, is a 27,000 word middle-grade novel written for children aged 7-12.  I touch on controversial topics like war versus peace, self-esteem, stereotyping, religion mingled with science and evolution, and the environmental movement through a never-before-explored perspective of bugs on the farm.

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