Beetle Battles: One Scientist's Journey of Adventure and Discovery by Doug Emlen

This slim nonfiction chapter book starts out as a scientific examination of the biology and evolution of beetles, but then expands into a much wider exploration of weaponry and evolution.

Emlen begins by taking readers through his scientific journey as a young student studying beetles in the jungle. He was fascinated by the horns and weapons of various beetles and, after an abortive search for one species, settled down to study dung beetles in Panama. His pivotal discoveries included the use of beetle horns as well as the way beetles with no horns or small horns "cheated" to win against the bigger, more heavily-weaponed beetles.

From this biological beginning, Emlen goes on to consider how weaponry is used in other species, including humans. He shows how his studies into the rise and fall of weaponry in beetles, and other animals, could be used in the study of human weaponry. The last few chapters explore the growth, design, and pitfalls of human arms races and how they can be compared to the animal world. The story comes full-circle as Emlen revisits his original study site in Panama with his children.

This isn't exactly a young reader's edition, more of a companion volume to Emlen's 2014 adult book, Animal Weapons. Back matter includes an epilogue, author's note of further reading and resources, photo credits and index.

I'm trying to keep a balance between high-interest, low-level nonfiction, which is the backbone of our juvenile nonfiction collection, and more challenging, high-reading level narrative nonfiction. About one-third of my nonfiction circulation is teacher requests, and I've seen, especially over the past few years, that kids simple can't read the more challenging books. However, I do have individuals and some teachers ask for the more challenging nonfiction. One teacher visits from almost an hour away to browse and make selections for her class from our nonfiction collection! Nonfiction is a personal interest for me as well and I'm dedicated to making sure I have a wide range of topics and reading levels.

Verdict: While this is fairly challenging as far as vocabulary and concepts, and readers will need to have a high level of comprehension to follow the reasoning and how the different subjects fit together, it's also fascinating, full of interesting information and anecdotes, and a mix of subjects that will appeal to a wide readership. It's less than 200 pages, so although the text is pretty dense it's not as intimidating as it might be. This won't be for every collection, but for high-level 5th grade readers on up, especially those with an interest in science and the military, this will be of great interest.

ISBN: 9781250147110; Published December 2019 by Roaring Brook; Purchased for the library