Two Bad Ants

What a delightful perspective-shifting book. The world viewed through ants' eyes! But very tense. My 6yo almost couldn't bear it when the ants went through the various perils of a home -- the coffee cup, the dispose-all, the toaster, the electrical outlet -- she wanted to read through to the end to make sure they survived.

What a delightful perspective-shifting book. The world viewed through ants' eyes! But very tense. My 6yo almost couldn't bear it when the ants went through the various perils of a home -- the coffee cup, the dispose-all, the toaster, the electrical outlet -- she wanted to read through to the end to make sure they survived.

REVIEW:
An ant brings a mysterious, sparkling crystal back to the ant world. After the queen ant takes a bite out of it, and realizes that it is the most delicious food she has ever had, the ants know what they have to do; they embark on a journey to bring back more crystals to make their queen ant happy. The ants march through a forest of grass, climb a mountain of a wall, and enter through a narrow tunnel. They, unknowingly, are inside an apartment. Despite their new and puzzling surroundings, the ants find the source of the crystals (sugar) in a glass bowl. One by one, the ants walk out of the tunnel carrying the prized possession. Two ants, however, decide they want to indulge in more crystals, and explore this new world. They eat so show more many crystal that they fall asleep in the bowl. Their adventures begin when a giant scoop (spoon) lifts them up and drops them into a hot brown lake (coffee). The narrowly escape the cave (mouth), and take refuge on a disk (bread), until the disks are lowered into a hot chamber. The disks pop out and they hurry over to a bubbling waterfall (faucet) to cool off, but fall into a dark chamber (garbage disposal) of soggy food. They spin around in the chamber along with the soggy food, escape, and take refuge once again, but this time in two long, narrow holes (outlet), only to be pushed out by a strange force (electricity). Night falls, and the two ants hear their fellow ants retrieving crystals like the night before. They join in and return home, realizing that this is where they belong.

I absolutely love this book! I love how the text is from the ant's perspective, as they describe a mouth as a cave, grass as a forest, and a running faucet as a waterfall, yet the pictures convey the full picture. The ants think they are in a forest, but the readers knows that the forest is actually a patch of grass. The pictures, which are done in gouache, play with lines and texture. It's also interesting how the pictures add so much to the story because the text never mentions what the crystal is, or what the bubbling lake is; instead, the pictures convey what the ants don't know. This shows the power of illustrations as a story-telling technique.

MEDIA: gouache

GENRE: Fantasy fiction
This is a fantasy book because it has aspects that aren't in the real world. For example, the two ants converse with one another, and the ants would have surely died in the toaster and garbage disposal.

USES:
(1) My class could study ants, such as how they work together to obtain food.
(2) After reading this, my class could talk about the word greedy. The two ants stayed behind because they wanted to eat more crystals, but ended up in danger and trouble.
(3) We could also discuss how text and pictures work together to tell a story. I think this is a great example.

AGE-APPROPRIATENESS: Older elementary because of the more complex vocabulary show less

This became one of my favorite Van Allsburg books only recently. I had the opportunity to meet him and listen to him describe the inspiration behind a few of his books, one of them being this one. He said that he was inspired to write this by an encounter with two ants in his own kitchen. He said that he wondered about what the two of them had gone through to reach that spot on his counter shortly before he smushed them with a newspaper, and it brought about the book. It's really a well told story and I really enjoyed it. It even has a moral, though not what so many decried it for, that it was a story of conformity. It seemed to him that the story should leave us with the same thought that the Wizard of Oz leaves us with, "There's no show more place like home." Or at least something along those lines. Very good story. show less

I enjoyed this book for a couple of reasons. First, the characters develop throughout the story. For example, 2 ants decide to stay in a sugar bowl and not take food back to the rest of the ants because the "crystals" taste so good. But they end up going through a series of dangerous encounters, they get poured into coffee and put in the toaster, etc. Soon they realize that they belong with the other ants and shouldn't have been so selfish.
I also enjoyed this book because of the descriptive language used. When the author describes the ants adventures he never says they are poured into coffee, then thrown in the sink, etc. Instead he describes in great detail about where the ants are. For example the author says,"They landed near what show more seemed to be a fountain-a waterfall pouring from a silver tube." While the text never says they are in the sink the reader can infer from the details thats where the ants are.
The main idea of the story is to do the right thing. The reader can see from the book that when the ants decided to not return back to their home that they went through conflicts that made them see that they should return back home and do the right thing by bringing the "crystals" back to the queen ant. show less

This book provides insight into the daily life of an ant and two, specifically, who decide not to follow the rules of the colony. Beautiful images and an interesting book to demonstrate perspective - common kitchen items like the toaster and coffee become dangerous threats to small, helpless ants!

As all Van Allsburg books are, this one is no exception -- creative, humorous and calling the reader to return to the beginning and start again for any detaill that may be missed.

When the word is out from the queen that she is sure there is no taste like those found in the current crystal. Longing to please, the ants go on a quest to find many of these tidbits. In their stubborness and need to consume all they can, the two ants journey to a land where they find unknown objects and could harm them at every turn.

Greed and longing to possess more and more and more, the ants find themselves floating in the sink amid the dishes. Danger awaits them at every step.

Fun, creative and a wonderful lesson in selfishness and over consumption.

Three Stars