Beetles, Lightly Toasted

Fifth grader Andy Moller helps his father, Big Earl, with morning chores on their Iowa farm, but his mind is on the annual Roger B. Sudermann essay contest. He is determined to win the award for inventiveness and imagination, which was established by local newspaper publisher Luther Sudermann in memory of his son, Roger. Andy’s primary motivation is to get his name and picture in the Bucksville Gazette, an honor no one in his family has ever achieved.

That Sunday, the Moller family hosts dinner for their relatives, the Barths. Andy’s mother, Edna, and his Aunt Bernadine Barth are sisters, as is Aunt Wanda, who lives with the Mollers. Andy has a strong rivalry with his cousin, Jack Barth, who is in his grade at school and whom Andy considers a pest. A picky eater, Andy is repulsed by Aunt Wanda’s okra and tomato casserole. Jack mocks him for building a wall of mashed potatoes on his plate to keep the slimy dish from touching his other food.

The next day at school, Andy and his friends, Russ Zumbach and Dora Kray, eagerly await the contest announcement. Their teacher, Mrs. Haynes, reveals the topic is "Conservation." The entire class is disappointed by what they consider a boring subject.

In protest, Andy and his classmates decide to boycott the contest, hoping Mr. Sudermann will be forced to choose a more exciting topic. The sign-up sheet in the classroom remains blank for a week. However, during his sister Lois’s baseball game, Andy overhears Aunt Bernadine mention that Jack is at home working on a conservation-related project. Andy realizes Jack is secretly breaking the boycott. That evening, Aunt Wanda announces her intention to open her own restaurant in the Soul Food Kitchen’s location if it ever goes out of business.

The following Sunday, the Barth family arrives at church with smoke billowing from their car’s engine. Andy’s Uncle Delmar discovers two burnt hamburgers on the engine block. Jack confesses that he was attempting to cook them with the engine’s heat as an experiment for his essay. At school, Andy finds Jack’s name is the only one on the contest sign-up sheet, ending the boycott. In response, he and his friends give Jack the silent treatment.

With the boycott over, Russ decides to write an essay about conserving land by sending garbage into outer space, and Dora builds a device to collect rainwater. Determined not to be left out, Andy searches for an original idea. Inspiration strikes when he watches a farm cat eat a beetle, he decides to write about conserving the food supply by eating insects.

Andy writes to Iowa State University and receives a reply from an entomologist, John Burrows, who provides information on which insects are edible and how to prepare them. Following the letter’s suggestion, Andy collects beetles, feeds them cornmeal, freezes them, and then toasts them. He bakes a batch of brownies, mixing the chopped beetles in with walnuts. His unsuspecting older brother, Wendell, tries one and declares it good.

To test his recipe further, Andy takes the brownies to school, confiding only in Sam. Several classmates, including Russ, Dora, and a surprised Jack, eat the brownies without noticing anything unusual. Later, while visiting the Barths' farm, Andy discovers more of Jack’s energy-saving experiments, including heating cocoa in a vaporizer and making a grilled cheese sandwich with a steam iron.

For his next recipe, Andy cultivates a worm colony, feeding it a stolen quart of Aunt Wanda’s applesauce. After Sam stays overnight at the farm, the two boys secretly deep-fry the worms the next day at the Soul Food Kitchen. During their experiment, a health inspector makes a surprise visit and, mistaking a piece of fried worm for a scrap of chicken, eats it. She remarks that it tastes oddly like applesauce.

For his final recipe, Andy prepares an egg salad sandwich using mealworm grubs and boiled ant pupae, intending for his sister Lois to eat it at her baseball game. When Lois becomes upset about the game, she gives the sandwich to Jack, who eats it all. Andy feels this is fitting revenge for Jack’s past pranks, but he later discovers Lois ate a second, identical sandwich he had left in the refrigerator.

On June 4, Mr. Sudermann visits the class to announce the winners. For the first time, there are two: Jack Barth, for his essay on conserving energy, and Andy Moller, for his essay on new food sources. When Mrs. Haynes reads Andy’s essay aloud, his classmates are horrified, realizing they were the unwitting subjects of his brownie experiment. They subsequently shun him. At home, Andy confesses everything to his family, leaving them shocked and disgusted, particularly Lois.

A photographer from the Bucksville Gazette calls to ask Andy to pose for a photo while eating his "conservation lunch" on the library steps. Seeing this as the only way to make amends for his deception, Andy agrees. On the day of the award ceremony, a large crowd gathers. After receiving their awards, Andy sits at a table with his meal of deep-fried worms, a grub sandwich, and a beetle brownie. In a moment of inspiration, he invites Jack to share it. In front of the crowd, both boys struggle to eat the food. Andy realizes that the taste is what matters, not the name or appearance of the food, and manages to finish his portion. The event concludes with Andy and Jack shaking hands, signaling the beginning of a new understanding and potential friendship.