The pests featured in Gross Bugs will give 3rd- and 4th- grade readers insight into the lives of these creepy creatures. The series shares facts about each bug's life cycle, its habitat, and its role as predator and prey. Each book contains "Gross but True" sidebars, and vivid close-up photographs.

The boll weevil has plagued cotton crops in the United States for more than a century. This insect, which has few natural enemies, costs farmers billions of dollars in damage.

Truly an example of gross bugs, cockroaches are an insect survival story. They live nearly everywhere in the world and cockroach infestations are extremely difficult to eradicate. This book takes a look at the unique adaptations cockroaches have made to enable them to thrive in nearly any environment.

Swarms of locusts have destroyed crops throughout recorded history. This book addresses the questions of how and why locusts swarm, the scale of damage they can bring to farmers' crops, and what effect the weather has on their behavior.

The mosquito is one of the deadliest insects on Earth. These blood-suckers carry diseases, which each year kill more than one million people in the world. The book explores the mosquito's swampy habitat and explains how and why mosquitoes feed on blood.

What is that smell? It might be the stink bug, a "true bug" whose bad smell keeps predators at bay. Some stink bug species may feed on the plants in your back yard.

Ticks are not "bugs," or even insects, but are members of the arachnid family. These pests spread illnesses in the animals and people they bite, most famously Lyme disease. This book examines the different types of ticks and how ticks find their hosts.