Joshua Finkelstein Bade does not want to go on his school camp to the nature reserve. Allergic to mosquitoes, he squirms when he sees creepy crawlies and hates to touch slimy scum-bags, called slugs. YUCK!
The hate he has for critters does not run in his family. One of his grandmothers is an entomologist and his grandfather, a game ranger in a South African game park, studies dung-beetles. And believe it or not, Josh is the only one in his class to not like insects. He cannot understand why his classmates love bugs so much... He pulls out every trick in the book to avoid going on the school trip, including faking that he has the measles.
When all attempts to avoid the camp fail, Joshua has no choice but to tag along. Luckily, Josh discovers that the camp is not THAT horrible. He even learns to tolerate some of the many-legged critters...