CHAPTER 1

NEW ARRIVALS

Covered in a blanket of thick fog, rows of orangetrees stood like ghosts outside Missionville, Texas,near the Gulf of Mexico. Inside one of those trees,Trey and Shelly Bopper, a pair of orange ladybugs,snored peacefully in their leafy, twiggy bed until astrange hum and clatter of fluttering wings wokeTrey. After he eased himself up, he lifted a pair ofbinoculars and a green beret from the hatstand.As he put on the beret and tiptoed out of the treehole, the March fog drifted away.

Through the binoculars, Trey scanned therows of orange trees to his left and right. Hegroaned and shook his head at what he saw:swarms of hungry aphids moving through thetrees, darkening leaves with mold and makingthem sag lifelessly. The invaders' sticky honeydewwaste dripped from leaves and branches, and thosebusybody ants were scurrying up the tree trunksand across the limbs. "Not good," Trey grumbled."Not good at all."

He zoomed back through the tree hole. Hehung the binoculars and green beret on thehatstand and marched to the bed. Shelly, asleep,delivered her usual whistling noises. He tappedon her head and shouted, "Wake up! Green alert!Get up!"

Shelly scrambled her bulging shell out of bedand cried, "By the jaws of beetles, more aphids?"

"Yup, I just scanned the trees near our home,and we are in deep trouble. If the aphids continueto multiply, the leaves will curl and fall off andthen the trees will die. Our survival depends onus ladybugs gobbling up the aphids. If not, welose our home. The challenge is monumental,"replied Trey.

"I'd call it monumentalific," said Shelly.

"You bet," said Trey.

"In life, expect some trouble," Shelly sang,"but when you worry, you make it double." Thenshe said, "Trey, you'll figure out a way to meet thechallenge. You always do."

"I wouldn't call it worry. It's fear." He pausedand tipped his head. "Did you hear that?"murmured Trey.

"Not a beetle beep," answered Shelly.

"Shhhh. Listen," said Trey.

Trey and Shelly stood like statues.

Shelly whispered, "Oh, dear, I hear themloud and clear. It's coming from behind our bed.Our tiny pupae! It's splendidific! We'll be proudparents of three helpers! They'll help us gobblethe aphids." She hugged Trey and jumped upand down.

"How can you be so happy when aphids arethreatening our survival and our home?" saidTrey.

Shelly swayed her protruding shell and sang,"In life, expect some trouble, but when you worry,you make it double." She laughed. "Come on,beetle walk with me."

They inched over to three tiny leaves lyingflat behind their twiggy bed. As the skin splitopen, three pale, new ladybugs emerged. Trey andShelly gasped, and their eyes widened. Six blackspots speckled each side of the new bugs' soft,orange shells. The babies shook their legs, staredat Trey and Shelly, and slumped onto their leaves,as quiet as stones.

Trey and Shelly examined each ladybug likeinspectors at a candy factory. Trey whispered,"Ladybug on the left owns thick, furry legs, tooheavy to move fast."

"Never mind the chubby legs; she's larger thanthe other two. Trey, we've got a girl ladybug!" saidShelly.

"Jubilation, increase in beetle population!"exclaimed Trey.

"You bet; we need more girl ladybugs. Lookhow the second one shakes his shell," saidShelly.

"Oops, almost stepped on his antennae.Longest pair of pipe cleaners I've ever seen,"replied Trey. "Long antennae, they're a liability."

"Don't think so, dear. Those antenna licoricesticks could be a secret defense trick," saidShelly.

"I disagree. Now fix your eyes on that lastladybug. Just when we need every helper to flyfrom leaf to leaf and gobble aphids quickly, we getone missing a back leg. That rear tilt makes himlook like an abandoned beetle car waiting for atow truck. He can't help us."

Shelly's eyes darted from side to side. Sheslapped her cheeks and cried, "Hallucination ormy imagination! Does that last one have threeeyes?"

"Let's see," said Trey as he inched closer toShelly, leaned his head, and studied the ladybug'sface. "It's a fact: he's got three eyes, triple vision.But a new beetle with three eyes may see threetimes as many aphids and be frightened right outof his shell."

"Can't you be hopeful, dear?" asked Shelly.

"It's survival. Get that through your thickshell. With only five legs, he isn't fit for speed.And the triple eyes? A drawback."

"All I ask is you give him a chance to train,"replied Shelly.

"I don't want to give him false hope. Do me afavor: wake up our helpers and get them movingwhile I'm gone," said Trey. "I'm off to set uptraining."

He hurried to the hatstand, grabbed his greenberet, black backpack, and binoculars, and wavedgood-bye.

CHAPTER 2

GREEN ALERT!

Shelly scampered to the corner and blurted, "Oh,my ladybugs' shells have dried and show their truecolor—deep orange." She tapped each ladybug'shead and cried, "Helpers, wake up! Let's preparefor the green alert!"

"What's `green alert'?" asked the girl ladybugwith the thick, furry legs.

"Green alert means a huge swarm of green-wingedaphids just landed on trees near our home,so we must act quickly. Let's awaken beetle eyes,legs, and appetites," said Shelly. "Watch me. First,tap legs in and out, flap wings, and fold themback. Let's all do it."

As Shelly clapped and moved, the threeladybugs tapped their legs in and out, flappedtheir wings, and folded them back.

"Second, wiggle tummies and sing, 'Who cangobble aphids, munch them down with speed?Who can save our beetle lives and the home weneed? We ladybugs can, we ladybugs can, weladybugs can, because we have thick lids andwe're clever kids.'"

Trey crawled into the entrance, his eyes rivetedlike two bright spotlights on the four beetleperformers. With jaws cracking, cheeks flushed,and sweat trickling down his face, he marchedtoward them.

Shelly and the three ladybugs stopped dancingand singing and sat up right, giggling and flutteringtheir wings.

Trey took off his green beret, shook it, andyelled, "We face losing our home, and look at youwasting time singing and dancing! The youngbeetles need...