Nina Laden - Roberto: The Insect Architect

Nina Laden

Copyright 2000 by Nina Laden.
All rights reserved.

Book design by Catherine Jacobes.
The art in this book was done in mixed-media collage, created with different kinds of paper, parts of images cut from old catalogs and magazines, wood veneers, cork veneer, blueprints, cardboard, skeleton leaves, old engravings, stickers, etc., that were glued onto Arches Hot Press Watercolor paper and painted with Holbein Acryla Gouache.
It was all done by hand. No computers were used.

ISBN 978-1-4521-2682-1

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Laden, Nina.
Roberto : the insect architect / by Nina Laden.
p. cm.
Summary: Roberto the architect, who also happens to be a
termite, sets off to the city to find success.
ISBN 0-8118-2465-9
[1. TermitesFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.L13735 Ro 2000
[E]dc21 99-050851 CIP

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94107

www.chroniclebooks.com

For my husband, Booth, who shares my passion for old houses, and for my father, Bob, who wanted to be an architect once upon a time. N. L.

A special thanks to some friends who helped me work the bugs out: Victoria Rock and the Chronicle Kids Department, Chauni Haslet, Kim and Carol in Fremont, Dr. John Beasley, Bill Burbank, and Sarah Boykin.

Even when Roberto was little, he went against the grain. Like most termites, he melted over maple, and pined for pine. Oak was okay, too. But Roberto didnt eat his food. He played with it.

Youre wasting a good meal, his mother said. Dont you know there are termites starving in Antarctica? But Roberto didnt answer. He was busy daydreaming about becoming a famous architect.

Whoever heard of a termite whowanted to be an architect? the othertermites snickered. Roberto, youshould be a chef! But Roberto didntwant to cook. He wanted to build. Hungry to start a new life, Roberto realized he had to leave.

So Roberto packed his bags and took the train to Bug Central Station, in the busy, buzzing hive of the big city. The city was a place where you could build your dreams. It was a place where you would be accepted. It was a place where the other termites wouldnt bug you. Roberto beamed hope like a lit-up skyscraper.

But hope didnt come cheap in the big city. Neither did a place to live. Roberto had no choice but to rent a room in a flea-bag hotel run by a nervous tick. He shared the room with a family of bed bugs. Roberto introduced himself. Then he built the bed bugs their very own beds.

After a good nights sleep, Roberto began to look for work as an architect. But things didnt go very well.

Show me what youve done,
said the architect,
Hank Floyd Mite.

There are no termites in my houses, stated Fleas Van Der Rohe.

Im busy, Antonia Gaudi blurted out.
Dont BUG me!

As Roberto crawled home, feeling like a pest, he was sideswiped by a fly. Watch where youre going, he mumbled. The fly started to cry.

But I dont have any place to go, she lamented.

Roberto wanted to comfort her, but he was nearly nailed by a carpenter ant trying to fix a rickety shed. Then out of nowhere, Roberto was almost run over by a stampede of roaches being chased from a diner. And suddenly, a frantic ladybug flew into his arms.

My house is on fire and my children are gone! the ladybug cried.

Roberto could see that he wasnt the only bug with problems. In fact, his problems didnt seem so big after all. Roberto wished he could do something for the others, but what could one termite do? A lot of damage, Fleas Van Der Rohe had told him.

Ill show Ol Fleas what this termite can do. Ill show them all, said Roberto.

Back at the hotel, Roberto came up with a plan. First, he drew up some blueprints. He sketched houses and streets. He sketched stores and playgrounds. By the time he was finished, he had sketched an entire neighborhood. Now I just need to find a good location, he declared.

Roberto searched all over the city for the perfect site. He finally found an abandoned, run-down block of crumbling buildings. It was a total mess. There were piles of old wood and garbage everywhere. It was just what he was looking for.

Roberto hammered and nailed.

He sawed and sanded.

He worked day and night.

Like a magician, he transformed the block of junk into a street of extraordinary homes. Each one was a work of art. But Roberto didnt sign his artwork. Instead he anonymously sent the keys to the new owners. Then he rolled up his plans and went home.

Some very surprised bugs went home, too. Tudor, the fly with no place to go, buzzed with delight.

I am a house fly again, she declared.

Then Grant, the carpenter ant, arrived. He dropped his tool belt on the porch.

Now I can have a real workshop, he beamed.

The roaches were the next ones on the scene.

You wont find us sleeping in salads anymore, they rejoiced.