Freda and the Blue Beetle by Sophie Gilmore

Freda is always told to be more careful.  When she finds a wounded beetle, she takes it in to heal.  It does.  And it keeps growing!

Owlkids Books and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you).  It has already been published, so you can get a copy now.

She and the blue beetle are best friends and they are inseparable.  But he is getting huge and has a hearty appetite.  When a ewe goes missing they blame him.  So she takes him to the woods and lets him know he can't come back to town.

Then they find the ewe but they don't apologize.

When they have an awful storm and the building they took refuge in has the roof fall in they are trapped.  But they hear something chewing.  It's the blue beetle saving them.

After all this, the blue beetle and Freda leave town.  Who knows where they settled?