The Little Red Ant and the Great Big Crumb: A Mexican Fable

Big Book of

by Shirley Climo, Francisco X. Mora (Illustrator)

With the inclusion of Spanish words to add to the story's Mexican flavor, a modern retelling of an old fable native to Spain, Portugal, and France offers a surprising lesson about what it means to be strong.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Fiction, Childrens, Cultural, Self Esteem, Folklore

38 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 1995

About the author

Shirley Climo was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1928. She attended DePauw University until her mother died unexpectedly in 1949. She dropped out of college and took up her mother's work writing scripts for the weekly WGAR-Radio children's program Fairytale Theatre. During her lifetime, she wrote 24 books including The Korean Cinderella; Magic and Mischief: Tales from Cornwall; A Treasury of Princesses: Princess Tales from Around the World; A Treasury of Mermaids: Mermaid Tales from Around the World; and Someone Saw a Spider: Spider Facts and Folktales. She died on August 25, 2012 at the age of 83.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little red ant, smaller than the 999 cousins with whom she lives, is delighted to discover a sweet-smelling piece of cake during the course of her foraging, but unsure how she is to transport it back to the anthill. Seeking help from a series of creatures, each of whom she judges to be stronger than the last - the sun is needed, to warm El Legarto, the lizard, so the sun must be stronger; the sun is "caught" in La Araña's web, so the spider must be stronger still; and so on - our myrmicine heroine eventually discovers, to her surprise, who is strongest of all...

A Mexican variant of an animals fable that - according to the brief author's afterword - can also be found in France, Spain and Portugal, The Little Red Ant and the Great Big Crumb is an engaging tale, well matched by Francisco Mora's charming watercolor illustrations. Young readers, who might occasionally feel like the smallest and weakest themselves, will appreciate this story of a tiny creature's discovery of her own power. I do wish - as I often do - that the author had given more detailed information, as to source. It's all very well to say that this is a fable found in a number of countries, but where did this variant come from? What text, what teller? Leaving that issue aside (and it is probably of interest mainly to folklorists), this is a book I would recommend to all young folktale lovers.

[Shaeley Santiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

The little ant finds a cake crumb too big to carry by herself. So, she goes looking for someone to help her carry it. In each case, she goes to someone with more power until finally she realizes if she has power to scare el hombre, she can move the crumb by herself.

[Clare Swapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This folklore for early elementary readers is a retelling of the Mexican version of a fable that has several variants found across Europe. This book does an excellent job of representing Mexican culture through the bright style of the illustrations, the use of Spanish phrases, and the animal characters being native to Mexico. The ant protagonist of the story has a lot of agency as she goes on a quest, which is marked by a recurring motive of the animal she is trying to enlist the help of being scared off by a larger animal. She eventually accomplishes her goal of getting a large crumb of delicious cake back to her anthill, which emphasizes the fable’s morality lesson of determination and believing in yourself.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story about a little ant who tries to get several animals to help her pick up a cake crumb. The ant doesn’t ask other ants but wants other animals to help. While the story and lesson seem off and not logical, the story is written in a cute way.

[Havenly Reads (Carlina) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t make it through the entire book as I read it to my niece because she couldn’t stay interested in it. After finishing it myself, I began to hope she gains more of an interest in it with time. It’s a cute book.

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute little book for big personality of an ant.

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Climo, Shirley. The Little Red Ant and the Great Big Crumb: A Mexican Fable (1995). According to the author’s note, this variation is based on a Spanish tale, but it has been retold for centuries in various European countries. It’s the story of a little red ant that lives with its 999 cousins in an anthill in a cornfield in Mexico. Its autumn and the ants go out to find food to store for the winter. However the little red ant gets left behind and finds nothing of the corn left to carry home. Fortunately, it finds a wonderful crumb of cake, but soon finds that it is too heavy for him to carry. The story’s plot unfolds with the little red ant trying to find help in carrying the crumb back home. He encounters various animals and even a human whom he asks for help. Like many fables, it teaches a moral, this one is about self-reliance. Francisco Mora illustrates the story with watercolor art that highlights the ant’s experience to the reader by showing the scenes up close from an ant’s eye level perspective. The text contains some words in Spanish, but they are understood since the translations are included in the sentences and in context. However, the author does provide a list of the characters and the words in Spanish with a pronunciation guide at the end for further support. I recommend this engaging picture book. It is recommended for ages 6-9 years old. Teachers can use it for teaching about fables and story elements, such as setting, plot, characters, and dialogue.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little ant who is the smallest of her colony, is ecstatic to find a crumb of cake to take back to the anthill to enjoy during the long cold winter. However, she finds that she does not have the strength to carry it by herself. She asks many different animals for help, including a lizard, spider, chicken and coyote. She even has the courage to climb all the way to the top of the farmer's head to ask his help. No one will help her. But she does succeed in scaring the wits out of the farmer. The little ant quickly realizes that if she can scare the farmer, who is the scariest of all, she should be able to carry her cake crumb. And she does.

Glossary of Spanish words included.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

24 months - a cute story that is well told and introduces young and old to a handful of Spanish words. The word pronunciations are included in the back of the book for parents with little knowledge of the language. O really likes the story and wants us to read it over and over. It is a bit long for a before bed story, a-lot a bit of time for this one.

Found a copy of this at the library sale and bought it. This is H's favorite of all the books I bought so far.

[Carla]

The Little Red Ant and the Great Big Crumb was a Mexican Fable. This story was about a little ant in Mexico who searched for help to carry a big crumb home. She searched far and wide but in the end, she realized that she was capable of doing it herself. This story would teach children some Spanish vocabulary as well as teaching them about how capable they are if they put their mind to something and believe in themselves. I did like this book and would read it to my classroom or my children.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bilingual kindergarten teacher requested a fable for their weekly story time & I found this great one in our collection. It was a Mexican fable & it had Spanish words sprinkled throughout & a fun guessing aspect that the students loved. It was a little long that's why I didn't give it 5 stars but it had a good message & was fun to read.

[Ahmad Worthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book because it is funny and it tells how a little ant was able to over come a few obsticles to get his prize, the big crumb. And even though he worked so hard, he still was willing to share his findings.

[Kate Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Mexican folktale about a little ant that thinks it's too small to do anything... but in reality is quite strong and brave!

[Kelley Mcalhany]

A Mexican folktale about an ant who tries to get anything to help him carry this huge crumb. He ends up carrying it himself and becoming a great big ant just like the others.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

The little red ant found a little piece of cake and he keeps asking people if they can carry it for him because he wasn't strong enough to carry it. I enjoyed this book.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small red ant finds a crumb in a Mexican cornfield, but she is afraid that she lacks the strength to move it herself and goes off to find an animal that can.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Rainbow: Borreguita and the Coyote

[Madeline Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read the book The Little Red Ant and the Great Big Crumb, we liked the characters of the book and how they explained the story. We also liked the story line and the determination of the little red ant! We liked the bright colors and how they used some Spanish in the book. The author chose good wording and art! The art gave more life to the book and gave you a good idea of what was going on in the story. It let the reader know how the characters were feeling and gave you a good idea of the culture.