Scarab: The story of a dung beetle #423074

Seek dung, roll dung balls, eat, and start over—this is all a dung beetle is meant to do. Alone. But Scarab is not a dung beetle like the others. Although he takes pride in doing his job well, he dreams of finding a bigger purpose in life. He admires ants and bees but soon realises he cannot be one of them. Things change for the better when Scarab meets two houseflies and joins them in their adventures. But the newfound happiness doesn’t last long, because an unforeseen event changes everything, beyond Scarab’s imagination. Will he discover the bigger purpose of all dung beetles? This is a story for readers of any age. It shows younger readers that even the smallest creatures play a big role in nature while reminding older readers that we can find joy and purpose in things we take for granted.

Raluca Cristina Neagu is a first-time children’s book author who loves nature. Growing up as a lonely child in 1980s communist Romania, without modern entertainment, she spent her summer holidays reading adventure novels—sometimes on top of a shed’s roof—or exploring her garden and nearby fields, imagining what insects talked about. In The Story of a Dung Beetle, she brings some of these conversations to life. Cristina works as a freelance consultant, helping economists and earth scientists prepare their papers for publication. She lives in northeastern Italy with her family.