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Two Bad Ants
The three-time Caldecott medalist tells the tale of two ants who decide to leave the safety of the others to venture into a danger-laden kitchen.
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
October 24th 1988
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...more
When an ant scout returns with a huge crystal, the queen indicates this is the most delicious cube of sugar she had ever tasted. The other ants decide that must go find more of these crytals in order to make the queen happy. The journey that they were going to have to endure was going to be a dangerous one. The find thier way to a land in which they had never been before, the human kitchen. They had found the a bowl full of the delicious crystals and they hurry back to but they didnt notice two ...more
This book was cute. It talked about the dangers that can be found in an every-day home while also exploring the concept of feeling small. This is something that many children might associate to. A wishing to ignore the rules that our parents set forth. I think that labeling the ants as "bad" associates a negativity to wishing to be independent. While this is a good thing for young children. However, I think that learning from mistakes is what is important as young people for us to expe...more
This story had such a great message at the end of it! The bad ants realized that in order to be truly happy (and safe) they needed to be at home where they were needed and appreciated by their mother. This whole book was filled with vivid personification and description of these two bad ants and gave much insight as to what their feelings were at every given moment. I'm positive this book would be loved by most if not all children because ants are something that they see mostly every day and the...more
Chris Van Allsburg tells a tale of two ants that decide to leave their colony behind for new and selfish pleasures. But in this new world, the ants are forced into unpleasant situations that leave that grateful to return home to their family. The illustrations of this story are very important to the understanding of the ants experience. The images give details that the text is unfamiliar with because it is told from the perspective of the ants. In the story there is reference to disks, a cav...more
Throughout the entire story, Two Bad Ants is displayed in from the view-point of a worm, which gives the reader the effect of what it is like to be an ant and see the way that they do on a daily basis. Each picture also provides the reader with the illusion of a rough and bumpy effect. The contour of each line plays a huge factor throughout the book as each one provides a whole new look on what is going on on each page. A lot of the time, the way the pictures are shown also requires the knowledg...more
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Ronyell
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“Two Bad Ants” is a unique little book by Chris Van Allsburg, author of “Jumanji” about how two ants learn the hard way about the consequences of disobeying your elders. “Two Bad Ants” is definitely a book about danger that will excite children for a long time.
Chris Van Allsburg has done a terrific job with both the illustrations and the story as he makes the story as dramatic as he can. Chris Van Allsburg’s story is exciting and intense at the same time as he makes it seem that t...more
Chris Van Allsburg has done a terrific job with both the illustrations and the story as he makes the story as dramatic as he can. Chris Van Allsburg’s story is exciting and intense at the same time as he makes it seem that t...more
Chris Van Allsburg's Two Bad Ants was a creative story that to me lacked visual appeal. The cover of the book is rather dull and boring with an unattractive tanish brown color that gives off an unappealing vibe. The nonwrap around cover provides a somewhat small illustration with a picture of two ants that we assume to be bad. The illustrations contained within the book are rather simple but satisfying. The color scheme does not contain any trully bright colors and are kind of dull just as the c...more
Thank you for reminding me about this. I am not a fan of Van Allsburg, but I do recall enjoying this a lot. As I've mentioned before, any book that gives small children a perspective from an even smaller being's pov is a likely hit. Think The Borrowers and The Littles and The Indian in the Cupboard for older kids, Thumbelina and The Snail House for those into picture-books.
Two Bad Ants is told from the perspective of the ants. You follow them on their dangerous and long journey for the queen through the text and the illustrations. This book is a perfect example of how you can’t have text without the illustrations or illustrations without the text in some picture books. Each part of the story brings you into the world of the ant to help you understand what the ants are experiencing in the new world they are venturing into. It shows how the simple everyday human...more
This book was very sweet, and had a good message at the end. In the beginning, the two bad ants decided that they wanted to be independent and tried to steer away from the colony and do whatever they wanted to do. However, once the two ants get into this "new world" they realize that it's not all what it is cut out to be. The ants get into situations that they almost don't escape, and they soon wish that they had never left the colony. When they finally do return back to the colony, th...more
Two Bad Ants is a home-away-home structures story of two ants' adventures in a "foreign land." The illustrations have an interesting format that seems somewhat contradictory to me. Many of the illustrations are double page spreads, but they are all bordered. It was a little bit distracting to me that the picture was cut in half by the gutter AND the border. I'm not sure that having the middle border accomplished anything that would have been missed by just having the illustration span...more
Two Bad Ants is a portrait style book. It has borders in all the pages and the text is at the bottom where the white is. I think the text is separate from the picture because they want us to be focused on the picture first and then just on the text. This book has many points of view. In some pages you can see it's in a bird's-eye view, like when they are marching out into the "woods". You can also see that in some pages it's a worm's-eye view, like when they are getting into the house ...more
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg is a story of 2 ants who go on an adventure from there normal lives and run into some trouble along the way. The colors used in this book are very simple, dull colors. This took away from the excitement of the book but went along with Van Allsburg’s style of having more mature looking picture books. Each picture was surrounded by a white border which made the artwork look more professional rather than comical. Below the illustration on each page was the boo...more
This story was extremely entertaining; it made you want to keep flipping the page to see which household object the ant would come in contact with next. The illustrations have borders, giving the feel that the author is telling a story about an ants journey. The colors used in the illustrations are very dull and the drawings lie heavily on the use of lines. The pages are vertical which works well with many of the drawings-helping the grass and other objects appear much taller and the ant to a...more
Now I have added all the books by this author that I still don't own (rexcept one). I love this author and illustrator. Even better than Anthony Browne. The Polar Express by Allsburg is the very best children's Christmlas book existing. Adults will love it too. If you don't have it - get it. Each of my kids and I have a copy of the Polar Express, it is that good. I really don't like Jumanji all that much, so I did not add Zathura which seems to be a follow-up. Everybody can make mistakes, even...more
"Two Bad Ants" is different than the other Chris Van Allsburg books I read. In this one ants are used as the main characters and not humans. The point of view is from the ants and to them humans are considered aliens. In the illustrations thick lines are used which creates detail and movement. The text is simple and placed at the bottom of the pages creating no interruptions from the illustrations. On each page the illustartions are surrounded by white borders. The strong black lines i...more
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 sto...more
Just by looking at the cover I was bored. I thought this was going to be an educational book about ants and what they do to survive. Something like what I would see on the Discovery Channel. However, the more I read the book the more I became interested. You know how when you're little you constantly think about what it would be like to be born as a insect or animal? Well this is what I thought about because I have always wondered what it would be like to be an ant. The illustrations were intere...more
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg is done in portrait shape. The structural device in Two Bad Ants is home-away-home. This is because the ants leave their home to go on a journey for sugar crystals, end up in a house, then return back to their home. The illustrations are shown from the point of view of the ants, showing us unusual angles and perspectives of the world. Everything is shown very close up and magnified. The illustrations are bordered with white space. The medium used in the illustr...more
Two Bad Ants is unlike any other Chris Van Allsburg book that I've read so far. There are no main human characters and there is use of colors other than black and white or very muted colors.
The illustrations are shown through the perspective of the ants. At times, I felt like I was watching Honey I Shrunk the Kids again, where all of the items are gigantic compared to the subject. The parallel lines in the illustrations made them look like the reader was able to view them up close, ...more
The illustrations are shown through the perspective of the ants. At times, I felt like I was watching Honey I Shrunk the Kids again, where all of the items are gigantic compared to the subject. The parallel lines in the illustrations made them look like the reader was able to view them up close, ...more
Interesting, geometric illustrations from an ant's perspective, but what lesson are kids supposed to learn from this story? Stick with the crowd, don't rock the boat, conform - because trying something new is dangerous? Curiosity killed the cat (or almost killed the ants, I guess)?
I think I'd probably notice two ants swimming in a cup of something I was drinking. And does anyone think ants really would have survived the toaster? Mr. Van Allsburg needs to review his basic science ab...more
I think I'd probably notice two ants swimming in a cup of something I was drinking. And does anyone think ants really would have survived the toaster? Mr. Van Allsburg needs to review his basic science ab...more
This was a random book that i had never read before and looked kind of interesting. I never thought for one second the story would turn out like it did. This is a great little story about how one day an ant comes back from a long day out with a crystal of sugar. He immediately brings it to his queen and she is amazed and demands more The next time the ant goes out, he bring many others with him. They all go into what turns out to be a sugar bowl, on the counter, in the kitchen, of a large house....more
This book is a great imaginative story and left a great lesson of choices and consequences. The book is portrait style and seems to have colors to due with nature. The pictures are not full bleed and cover about 3/4 of the upper page. The words run along the bottom of every page. The view seems to be birds eye view as we are looking down at what the ants are doing. The pictures seem very life like and the ants have a friendly look to them. The shape seems to be horizontal and vertical, and each ...more
This is a great book about perspective. It is illustrated from an ant's perspective. The illustrations and story are fantastic. What Van Allsburg book wouldn't be?
The illustrations in this book are enhancing to the text. The story, told from an ants point of view describes objects and items found in a humans kitchen in very simple terms because they are foreign, so the pictures illustrate what they are actually experiencing. The perspective of these illustrations are "worm's eye view" which is appropriate since it is told from an ants perspective. The use of line is affectively demonstrated to add texture to the images. The bordered images serve...more
Katie Sokol
added it
This is actually one of my least favorite Chris Allsburg books. I am not all that fond of the illustrations or the storyline. I feel like this isn't a very exciting children's book in all honesty. I felt myself feeling very bored and the process of finishing the book was very difficult. I normally adore children's books and love the illustrations and the way it sparks creativity and imagination in your head. However, I felt like this book wasn't very exciting and the main ant characters weren't ...more
The moral of this book is that ambition can lead to trouble and unhappiness. Being at home with your loved ones is alway comforting. The illustrations are phenomenal and very nicely correlate with the story. I think this is a good story to read a loud with the students so they can understand that being selfish doesn't bring good things. An assignment I would give, would be for the students to write and draw about a time where they really enjoyed spending time with their family. And I would tell ...more
I did not like this book very much. It may be because I have an ant problem in my apartment right now, but I thought it might make children worry about ants being in their food. The moral is good because it is telling children that they should not be greedy and that they should stay with their friends and family. The illustrations were good because there was so much detail in all of the pictures. But, I thought that the children may get distracted from the story because the ants are going throug...more
Two Bad Ants was a great example of the importance of illustrations. If you only listen to the words, you are only getting the perception of the ants. However, the illustrations show what the "crystals" and "brown lake" really are. It was a fun read because it did give me a different way of looking at certain things. This book provided me with a different perception of normal things that I use daily. There was also a wonderful lesson at the end of the story. The lesson that ...more
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Chris was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18th, 1949, the second child of Doris Christiansen Van Allsburg and Richard Van Allsburg. His sister Karen was born in 1947.
Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (a...more
More about Chris Van Allsburg...
Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (a...more
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