Libby Lacewing

  It's late fall, and the Pick-Your-Own Apple Festival is coming to an end. The sugar cube projects created by local businesses and schools will be around for just one more night. Libby and her friends plan to visit all their favorites. But plans quickly change. Libby's grandfather puts her in charge of loading the family van with sugar cubes for the winter storehouse. And Luna's anti-gravity belt is malfunctioning sending her packing for an intergalactic trip to her home world. Libby wonders whether she'll ever see her friend Luna again. Libby puts off loading the van to find useful items for Luna's long journey. Then raccoons attack the sugar cube projects, and the farmer ships everything to the dump a day early. Libby hasn't loaded a single sugar cube for the store house, and Fern is swept up into the garbage truck with the one thing that might keep Luna from leaving the orchard. Available at: Amazon Coming Soon: Smashwords Visit OrchardBugs.com

  Libby has the perfect birthday surprise planned for Cara. Unlike previous year's surprises, Libby is determined this surprise will go smoothly. In fact, her two friends Maci, an aphid wasp, and Fern, a stinkbug, are coming along to help. All Libby has to do is find the right battery at the Big Tree's battery sale and return it to the shed before Cara's birthday party. Easy right? But Libby's trip doesn't go exactly as planned, leaving Libby with an unusual gift and her friend, Fern, convinced they broke the time barrier. Available: Amazon Lulu Coming Soon: Smashwords Visit OrchardBugs.com

Libby and her younger cousins are helping with an overnight wrangling trip complete with campfire stories. Lars attempts to scare Libby with the story of a spore-breathing, stinkhorn-smelling swamp monster drawn to harmonica music. But Libby isn't fooled for a second. She knows there's no such thing as swamp monsters. She even plays her grandfather's harmonica to prove it. As the lacewings curl up in termite holes for some sleep, Libby is in charge of first watch. When she dozes off (just a little), she wakes to find herself underwater. Swamp water has flooded the southeast end of the apple orchard, and the swamp water has trapped Libby's grandfather and younger cousins inside the termite holes. Libby is determined to rescue them with the help of her friend Cara. But things don't go as smoothly as hoped? Did Libby accidentally call a swamp monster to the orchard? Or is there another reason behind the strange creature they encounter in her family's tree? Vis

Libby Lacewing lives on an apple orchard nestled in the Midwest. She and her family help remove apple-harming, sap-sucking pests from the apple trees. As spring approaches, Libby hopes for her first real lasso so she can join the older aphid wranglers. Libby is disappointed when she gets leaf boots and a cowboy hat, but no lasso. It looks like another season of netting stragglers with the younger lacewings. Then Libby's grandfather asks her to take five aphids across Sap River. Libby is sure she's ready. But suddenly Libby's stomach is as quivery as a rattlesnake. What if she loses all the aphids? When things go wrong, Libby's good friend Luna is there to help. Visit at Orchardbugs.com Third Place Winner (short story version) of the 86th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition. Available now: Amazon,  and Smashwords