Hector Springs Loose

by Elizabeth Shreeve, Pamela R. Levy (Illustrator)

Overview

Hector Fuller is a wumblebug. A more likeable bug you'll never find. But you'll also never find a wumblebug anywhere other than the pages of a book — this book, to be exact.
One morning Hector Fuller is playing the piano in his wumblebug hole, as content as a bug can be when his home is taken over by a hopping flea circus! Fleas are everywhere, hanging from the ceiling and bouncing off the walls. To make matters worse, Hector's allergic to fleas — all six of his legs are itching like crazy! There's only one thing for poor Hector to do: He'll have to find a new home.
On his search, Hector meets new creatures and sees amazing sights, but will he ever find a home as perfect as his snug little hole?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689864148
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	01/01/2004
Series:	Ready-for-Chapters
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.62(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth Shreeve is the author of Hector Springs Loose, a Simon & Schuster book.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 2-4-Hector, an imaginary "wumblebug," is evicted from his cozy hole in the ground when a noisy flea circus moves in. He ventures out in search of a new home and meets up with a variety of small critters and small adventures. After experiencing mishaps while trying to sleep in a variety of places, he finally decides, "I'm no water bug. Not a tree bug either, come to think of it. I'm a wumblebug, and I'm going home." Shreeve does a good job of evoking the early spring setting without overwhelming young readers with too much description. Amusing full-page, black-and-white pencil sketches appear throughout. With short sentences and brief chapters, this story is well pitched to beginning chapter-book readers.-Shelley B. Sutherland, Niles Public Library District, IL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Shreeve opens a Ready for Chapters series with this engaging tale of a bug forced into a horizon-expanding odyssey when his cozy burrow is taken over by a flea circus. Being a wumble-bug-"a home-loving creature you won't find in any book, except for this one of course"-Hector is understandably miffed to be forced out of his digs. Stuffing a backpack with gum, a pocketknife, and other necessities, he departs, little suspecting the discomfort, not to mention outright danger, he's about to face from a frantic mother hummingbird, a hungry bullfrog, and other residents of his bug-eat-bug world. The author keeps the tone light, though, tucking in tongue-in-cheek details-being six-legged, Hector can play a piano duet with himself-and bringing her wandering wumble-bug back, with mementos of his travels, to a home from which the fleas have departed as suddenly as they arrived. Levy's sketchy, full-page scenes (not really seen) provide a bug's-eye view of Hector, bumbling his way through one misadventure after another. Lighthearted, slightly challenging fare for easy reader graduates. (Fiction. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews