Grasshopper Jungle is a 2014 young adult novel written by American author Andrew A. Smith that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional, run-down, half-abandoned town of Ealing, Iowa.

[1] Grasshopper Jungle, set in the town of Ealing, Iowa during a modern economic recession, is narrated by the main character Austin Szerba.

Austin often struggles with his own sexual thoughts and feelings for both his best friend Robby Brees and his girlfriend Shann Collins.

During a visit to a gay bar, Robby and Austin watch as one of the first infected, Hungry Jack, sheds his human exterior turning into a giant praying mantis after he is hit by a car.

McKeon had been in charge of the production of the mysterious objects that the boys had found, including the vial of Contained MI Plague Strain 412E.

The trio explore the facility and learn through watching a five-part film that McKeon Industries had been developing “unstoppable soldiers”, which in reality were large, invincible praying mantises.

At the end of the novel, Austin confirms that they were not successful in reversing the effects of the plague and that the world has been taken over by large praying mantises, with a small number of survivors living in Eden.

Shann attends the girls' side of Curtis Crane Lutheran Academy, and has been dating Austin since eighth grade.

In the summer of 2011, the Wall Street Journal published a piece on his book, The Marbury Lens, deeming it too dark and harmful for young readers.

[3] Smith stated that he wrote the novel straight through, with no outline or basis on what it was going to be and he liked to throw random things that he found through Google searches into the book.

[4] Grasshopper Jungle has been praised for its unusual take on the coming-of-age genre which is described as having “a markedly different tone and timbre” when compared to other young adult novels.

[6] The book's bizarre, dark style is positively compared to that of Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five given the "scattered", "outlandish" nature of the narrative.

[7][8][9] Smith's storytelling in Grasshopper Jungle has been described as “intricate” and “grimly comedic” with respect to character development and plot structure.