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One Mean Ant

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One Mean Ant

Hardcover

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Hardcover
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Overview

An astonishingly disagreeable ant meets his match in this pitch-perfect picture book comedy from Arthur Yorinks and Sergio Ruzzier.

Was there ever an ant as mean as this mean ant? Not likely. This ant is so mean that leaves fall off trees when he walks by. This ant is so mean that grapes shrivel when he looks at them. But when this mean ant finds himself lost in the desert and meets a fly that defies explanation . . . well, nothing is the same again. With this first in a planned trilogy, celebrated picture book creators Arthur Yorinks and Sergio Ruzzier team up for a hilariously slapstick tale that will make a raucous read-aloud for any storytime.

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About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763683948
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	02/11/2020
Series:	One Mean Ant
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Arthur Yorinks is a playwright, director, and author of more than thirty-five picture books for children, including the Caldecott Medal–winning Hey, Al, illustrated by Richard Egielski. His most recent picture book is Presto and Zesto in Limboland, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Arthur Yorinks lives in Cambridge, New York.

Sergio Ruzzier is the author-illustrator of numerous books for children, including Fish and Wave, a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book; Amandina; A Letter for Leo; and The Room of Wonders, which won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award. He lives in Italy.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

10/21/2019
“Once, there was an ant. A really mean ant,” Yorinks (Hey, Al) writes. “He was so mean, leaves would fall off trees when he walked by.” Ruzzier (Good Boy) draws the insect in minute, fascinating detail. The ant narrows his eyes, clenches his teeth and makes a fist with one of his four hands. “Hey, you, dig that hole!” he growls, “minding everyone else’s business” as he passes. Then, stomping around until he finds himself lost in the desert, he roasts and rages until he’s accosted by a goofy-looking fly who’s not bothered by having landed in the middle of nowhere: “I’m not lost... I just used to be someplace else, and now I’m here.” There’s little physical action; instead, the energy comes from Yorinks’s hotheaded dialogue (“Buzz off!”) and Ruzzier’s expressive characters and backgrounds. Though the even-tempered fly shows signs of being able to break through the ant’s hostile defenses, redemption is fleeting for the vaudevillian pair. And a surprise ending brings the proceedings to a sudden close that may prove a bit of a shock for those who have gotten into the lengthy story’s rhythm. Ages 3–7. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Readers will delight in the silly antics and wacky wordplay of these unlikely companions just as much as they'll enjoy the conversational, tall-tale voice adopted by the narrator. A zany, hilarious first in a planned trilogy.
—Kirkus Reviews

There’s little physical action; instead, the energy comes from Yorinks’s hotheaded dialogue (“Buzz off!”) and Ruzzier’s expressive characters and backgrounds. Though the even-tempered fly shows signs of being able to break through the ant’s hostile defenses, redemption is fleeting for the vaudevillian pair. And a surprise ending brings the proceedings to a sudden close that may prove a bit of a shock for those who have gotten into the lengthy story’s rhythm.
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

03/13/2020
PreS-Gr 2—A hot-headed ant and a lovable fly are lost together in the middle of the desert. The ant, being extremely sour and rude, wants nothing to do with the fly, who has, well, the attention span of a fly. After the fly removes an actual thorn in the ant's side, he then offers to fly them out of the desert. A surpising, yet open-ended ending may either delight or startle readers. The use of humor, visual gags, and idioms will go over many children's heads but may charm adults. The mean ant is in fact very mean; however, the lesson showing kids that being mean doesn't pay isn't straightforward. VERDICT An additional purchase-despite the picture book format, the tale is more suited to beginning readers. —Shana Shea, Windsor Public Library, CT

School Library Journal

2019-09-29
An irascible ant becomes lost in the desert until an upbeat fly arrives.
This ant is mean: "so mean, grapes would shrivel and turn into raisins when he looked at them." He bosses everybody around, too. So preoccupied with this activity is he, the ant finds himself completely lost in the desert. Ranting and raving, he complains that there's "no water in this stinkpot place." A fly lands, and the ant stresses their dire situation, but the cheerful fly's inexplicably immune to the ant's histrionics. When the fly removes a pine needle from the ant's side (not previously visible in the illustrations), the ant suddenly feels different ("good" and "thankful" don't come naturally). The insects exit the desert in tandem, with the fly forging optimistically ahead and the ant yelling warnings. Ruzzier's distinctive cartoon illustrations utilize fine black outlines and pastel-hued washes to render the ant and fly with exaggerated facial expressions and body language. With his beady eyes, twisted antennae, snarling mouth, flailing legs, and diminutive red body, the ant certainly looks mean while the larger, blue-green fly with his gossamer wings and goofy, gap-toothed grin appears an affable, unflappable foil against a background of empty desert and open sky. Readers will delight in the silly antics and wacky wordplay of these unlikely companions just as much as they'll enjoy the conversational, tall-tale voice adopted by the narrator.
A zany, hilarious first in a planned trilogy. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews

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