The Merry Adventures of Buzzer Bug and his Cousin Joker Bug

About the Book

Dear children, In these stories Buzzer Bug and Joker Bug go wandering around their towns in Kansas, looking for ways to scare people or make their lives more interesting. They make all kinds of noises—scary ones, very unexpected ones. Would you like to help them make their noises? The Buzzer Bug noise goes like this: make a ZZHH sound like the one in the middle of the word “treasure.” Now go up like a police siren, getting louder as you go up, and down again, just one time. Sometimes Buzzer Bug and his family make short little noises, zzhh, zzhh. Joker Bug makes noises you already know. He can croak like a frog, howl like a coyote, whistle like a steam engine, ding like a bell, and so on. If somebody is reading the book to you, help make the proper noise whenever it comes up in the story. If you are reading the book to yourself, you can decide whether to make the noise or not. I hope you have as much fun as those two mischievous bugs did! Your friend, Phyllis Martens

About the Author

Phyllis Hiebert Martens was born in Minnesota but grew up in India, the daughter of missionary parents. She returned to a small town in Kansas to attend college. Phyllis has master’s degrees in English and counseling, has taught college English and ESL. She is married to Dr. Elmer Martens. They have four children as well as nine grandchildren who, when they were kids, would on every visit insist on being told a Buzzer Bug story that very night. She recently published Stories from an Old Town, about life in a Minnesota town many years ago.