Review: We Are the Ants

The universe may forget us, but it doesn’t matter.  Because we are the ants, and we’ll keep marching on.

Things aren’t so great for Henry right now.  His father’s left his family and he thinks it’s because of him, his boyfriend committed suicide and he still struggles with the grief, and his brother told everyone that he’s being abducted by aliens and now the whole school calls him Space Boy.  Not to mention his science grade, his grandmother’s dementia, and his brother’s pregnant girlfriend.

Speaking of the aliens, they’ve given Henry 144 days to decide if he wants to save the world or not.  He’s beginning to think it’s not worth saving – can his friends and family convince him otherwise before it’s too late?

A sweet young lady I know loved We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson and recommended it to me so I grabbed a copy from the library.  The story is told from Henry’s perspective and he’s a great character – he’s kind and loyal as well as hurt and confused.  He’s not in a good place after the suicide of his boyfriend and he’s trying to put his life back together.  And now, some stupid aliens have picked him to abduct.  They tell him he can save the world, but does he want to?

I thought We Are the Ants was a little edgy and a little raunchy so Henry’s voice felt authentic to me.  Hutchinson’s writing is engaging and the book is full of emotion and made me angry at times but also made me laugh a time or two.  I thought the author introduced too many issues so I didn’t enjoy it as much as my friend did but, since she’s the target audience, her thoughts are probably more valid than mine.

I will link this up to Booking Mama’s Saturday feature, Kid Konnection. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, leave a comment as well as a link on her site.

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