A 10-Book Illustrated Chapter Book Series
Junie and the Bug Log
A ten-year-old Latina girl solves environmental mysteries with a battered green notebook, a magnifying glass, and the patience to count to sixty before deciding anything.
Start Reading →The obvious suspect is always wrong.
The real answer is always boring, ordinary, and worth knowing.
Juniper Alvarez is ten years old, quiet, and pays attention to things nobody else thinks are worth looking at. Armed with a battered green notebook inherited from her grandfather, she solves the environmental mysteries of Pepper Hollow — a small town where something is always going wrong and everyone is always sure they know who did it.
In every book, the obvious suspect turns out to be innocent, and the real answer is something systemic that nobody noticed — a leaking pipe, a row of lamp posts, fourteen lawns of fertiliser, a spider doing a job nobody asked it to do. Junie doesn’t catch villains. She finds open doors. And the science is real: pollination, light pollution, water chemistry, monarch migration, nocturnal pollinators, soil health, wetland ecology — woven into every mystery so the reader learns it without being taught.
Start with Book One. Each mystery stands alone, but the characters, the friendships, the science, and the Bug Log grow across the series.
The Ten Books
Ten creatures. Ten mysteries. Ten times the same story — and a different answer every time.
Book One
The Case of the Vanishing Bees
Science: Pollination
Bee counts dropping at the lavender bush. Everyone blames the neighbour's spray. The real answer is hiding in a place nobody thought to look.
Book Two
The Firefly Blackout
Science: Light Pollution
Fireflies vanishing from the meadow. Everyone blames the snack truck's spotlight. The darkness has a problem nobody noticed.
Book Three
The Ant Trail Robbery
Science: Ant Behaviour
Shiny things vanishing from school lockers. Everyone blames the new kid. The ants saw everything.
Book Four
The Snail Warning
Science: Bioindicators & Water Quality
Water snails climbing out of clear creek water. The water looks perfect. The snails know better.
Book Five
The Spider’s Silk Line
Science: Spiders as Pest Control
An enormous web at the park gate. A petition to spray. The spider is the only thing keeping the roses alive.
Book Six
The Monarch Migration Mystery
Science: Migration Corridors & Milkweed
Zero monarchs at the milkweed. For the first time, the case goes past the town line — seventy-one miles south.
Book Seven
The Moth Hour
Science: Nocturnal Pollinators
A moonflower that won't pollinate. No moths in the garden. Twenty-seven percent of pollination happens in the dark, and nobody was watching.
Book Eight
The Paper Wasp Trial
Science: Wasps as Pest Predators
A wasp nest on the school gym. Eighty-eight percent fewer caterpillars. A PTA vote. The wasps can sting — and they're protecting the garden.
Book Nine
The Earthworm Count
Science: Soil Health & Compaction
Zero worms in the garden soil. The damage took twenty minutes. The fix takes nine months. You can't rush a worm.
Book Ten
The Dragonfly Pond
Science: Wetland Ecology & Mosquito Control
The town wants to fill the pond for parking. Two hundred dragonflies eating forty thousand mosquitoes a day. The final case. The biggest room. The last page — but not the last count.
What makes these books different
For readers ages 8–10 who like mysteries, science, bugs, and the kind of kid who crouches down to look at things.
Real Science, Real Mysteries
Every book teaches real science — pollination, light pollution, water chemistry, soil health — through a mystery the reader solves alongside Junie. No lectures. No worksheets. Just a story that makes you smarter without telling you it's doing it.
The Obvious Suspect Is Always Wrong
Every case starts with an easy answer everyone believes and a harder answer nobody sees. The series teaches critical thinking by example: don't decide before you've counted to sixty.
Illustrated Throughout
17–18 warm, hand-drawn illustrations per book in a watercolour-and-ink storybook style. Full-page scenes, Bug Log sketches, and field-guide pages that bring every creature to life.
Diverse Characters, Universal Stories
Junie is Latina. Marcus is Black. The cast reflects the real world. But the stories aren't about identity — they're about bugs, patience, and paying attention. Every kid sees themselves in a kid who crouches down to look.
For Teachers & Librarians
Curriculum-aligned, classroom-ready, and the kind of books kids actually ask to read again.
STEM Topics Covered
- Pollination & bee biology
- Light pollution & bioluminescence
- Ant colony behaviour & pheromones
- Bioindicators & water quality
- Spiders as natural pest control
- Monarch migration & habitat loss
- Nocturnal pollinators & moth navigation
- Beneficial predators & ecosystem services
- Soil health, earthworms & compaction
- Wetland ecology & mosquito control
Classroom Resources
Free downloadable discussion guides, activity sheets, and a “Start Your Own Bug Log” printable are available for every book in the series.
Each book aligns with Next Generation Science Standards for grades 3–5, including ecosystems, interdependent relationships, and environmental impact.
Perfect for independent reading, guided reading groups, read-alouds, and STEM enrichment units.
Download Free ResourcesStart with Book One
The bees are disappearing. And nine-year-old Junie Alvarez is the only one counting.
Read Book One on Amazon