about the book
Nestled in an oasis in a desert, New Coleopolis is a close-knit and bustling community with civilization schools, restaurants, and museums. Its residents include intelligent writers, businessmen, and scientists, and most are content to live their lives with little thought of what lies beyond. Lucy, a junior member of the faculty at the University, is one that is not so content. She is an independent thinker, a keen observer, resourceful and curious.
Unfortunately, this community frowns on curiosity. The old colony was destroyed 1002 years ago when, they believe, the God Scarabus punished them for their unhealthy quest for knowledge. On that fateful day, hundreds died when three coconuts hit the city.
Their new sanctuary is now under a different palm tree and is home to the ruling elite and a growing population. No one is allowed beyond the city’s edges. The elders know what is out there and will do whatever it takes to keep it a secret. So when Lucy and other scientists strike out on a grand expedition to investigate, they must never return!
This is a story about bugs! Lucy is a beetle, a sandwalker, and the moment she leaves the oasis, she feels right at home in the sandy desert. The six-member expedition consists of kindly professor Beatrice Bombardier, the scheming Professor Owen, pun-loving Raef (who may be part robot), and the large lumbering Mossy, the group’s protector. The last member of the expedition is Ma’Dog, an exile from Coleopolis, who hopes to trade his expertise for passage back into the city.
Things go awry from the very start. Each night, chill comas leave them immobilized and vulnerable to any nocturnal monster that stumbles upon them. They are also forced to battle snakes, spiders, birds, bats, worms, tree resin, and sandstorms. Friendships and loyalties are put to the test as they contend with backstabbing colleagues and religious zealots. Still, along their journey, they make amazing discoveries, some of which try to eat them!
One discovery is life-altering-the bones of a hue-mon! Bugs are not the only living creatures in the world! Will Lucy and her companions ever make it back home…and if they do, will the residents of Coleopolis believe what they have discovered?
about the author/illustrator
Jay Hosler was born on November 21, 1966, and grew up in Huntington, Indiana. He claims the comic character Charlie Brown taught him how to read and draw. First Jay copied the Sunday comics and later created his own strips. Like Charlie, Jay was a bit of a loner and outsider, but he admired Charlie’s stoicism. Jay would find these same qualities in Spiderman’s Peter Parker, a bespectacled science nerd who never got the chicks.
Though never formally trained in art, Jay began drawing for the student newspaper while he attended DePauw University. and helater was paid for a daily comic strip for the Notre Dame school newspaper. He graduated cum laude from DePauw with a degree in Biological Sciences and earned a PhD. from the University of Notre Dame. An entomologist, he was also a Postdoctoral Fellow at Ohio State University working at the Rothenbuhler Honey Bee Research Laboratory. He is currently a professor in the Department of Biology at Juniata College.
For the last twenty years, Jay has excitedly combined his science interests with his drawing passions. He knows it is an excellent tool for teaching and has spoken and written extensively about the use of comics and graphic novels in the classroom.
His humorous graphic novel Clan Apis is about the life of a honey bee named Nyuki. The Sandwalk Adventures follows a conversation about evolution between Charles Darwin and a follicle mite living in his left eyebrow. Optical Allusions explains the evolution of the eye and vision by following the story of Wrinkles the Wonderbrain. Even the most bug-adverse readers are soon engrossed in Last of the Sandwalkers. And though teaching evolution in the classroom is a hot topic, Jay believes that “We can’t pick and choose what we believe from science just because some ideas make us uncomfortable.”
Jay currently lives in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania with his wife Lisa, and their two little nerdlings, Max and Jack.
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: Sci Scoop
Article on author: DePauw University
Also by Jay Hosler:
Evolution : The Story of Life on Earth. Hill & Wang. 2011.
The Sandwalk Adventures : An Adventure in Evolution Told in Five Chapters. Active Synapse. 2003.
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Evolution : The Story of Life on Earth by Jay Hosler
Bloort 183 returns as the principle narrator in this humorous sequel to Mark Schultz’s The Stuff of Life. This time he invites Prince Floorish 418 and King Floorsh 727 to tour the newly opened Glargalian Holographic Museum of Earth Evolution. There they learn everything from endosymbiosis to mass extinction.
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