Marsha’s Reviews > Tonino: The Adventures of a Boy/Cricket from Boston's North End > Status Update

Tonino hopped into the conversation. "What we are worried about in the U.S. is the considerable demand that is developing for live Japanese fighting crickets. People are willing ot pay high prices for them. We have no idea what an introduction of the Japanese bell cricket would do to our ecosystems. Just think what the Japanese beetle did to our plant and food industry."

Tonino and Susan were still pretty scared but hopped back to safety and transformed when they were ont he safe side of hte roped-off area, where no one could see them. They then took a position on the cliff that was within the safety zone and sat down to rest after that heated and dangerous ordeal. Sitting on the cliff, they watched several birds fly up to where the lava was flowing over the cliff into the ocean.

Captain Dan went on to give a clearer explanation of how the baleen really worked. "It's like eating artichokes. You place the bract into your mouth, leaving just enough hanging out ot hold onto, close your teeth onto the bract, and then gradually pull out the bract. As you withdraw the bract, your teeth act like baleen. In both cases, the teeth and the baleen are the structures keeping the food item in the mouth."

Tonino immediately responded, "This is why I must sacrifice my life saving all plant and insect species." "That's a big job," Susan replied.

Tonino knew time was drawing short so he decided to read something about the sports and musical instruments of the Apache. There were two games p[layed by Apache that interested Tonino. One was called hoop-and-pole, and the other was Shinney ball. The latter game interested Tonino because it reminded him of hockey; he remembered how every winter in Boston, all the young boys carried hockey sticks to school.

By the evening of the second day, Tonino and Carlo could see the monarchs were getting tired and knew that the one-mile-long flock of butterflies would have to land in Georgia. The landing went well. Before the airport came into sight, the plane and boys changed back into human size and normal ultralight size. Many people came out to see the monarchs, but other curious folks wanted to see these two adventurous boys.