Mark Pett

First-person narrator Dougie the Dung Beetle is proud of who he is and what dung beetles do...but he still doesn't want anyone at school to know that he eats poop. But when faced with a choice between humiliating an old friend and fessing up to his own true self, Dougie takes the high road, and it inspires his classmates to reveal their own weirdnesses:

A second-grader praying mantis spoke up. "So? My mom ate my dad."
Everyone looked at each other.
"I have ears in my armpits," said Manuel Moth.
"I eat dead people," said Maude Maggot...

Plenty of humor and grossness here as well as the "be yourself" message.

Endpapers resemble a series of school yearbook photos, with the traditional mottled blue background and each insect's name under its picture (Caleb Caterpillar, Cecilia Centipede, etc.).… (meer)