Are You an Ant?

Up The Garden Path / Backyard Books

by Judy Allen, Tudor Humphries

Young fans of A Bug's Life will enjoy this inside look at the everyday life of these fascinating insects as they explore the similarities and differences in their own lives.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Nature, Childrens, Animals, Summer

30 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Judy Allen is an award-winning author whose novel Awaiting Developments was short-listed for the Whitbread Children's Novel Award.

Judy Allen, along with illustrator Tudor Humphries, created Kingfisher's award-winning Backyard Books series and many other successful books, including the Reading Rainbow selections Tiger and Seal.

Reviews

[Skye Kilaen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entomology with a whimsical touch. Allen talks directly to the reader in a very engaging way. My preschool son was completely drawn in. Whenever I’d read the first line “Are you an ant?” he would yell “No!”

Are You a Butterfly? and Are You a Ladybug? are also good.

[Vayda Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really informative, but engaging non-fiction picture books for young readers. Gross, but enjoyable, especially for the boys.

[Ioana Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi-a plăcut această carte pentru că este foarte informativă. A oferit informații despre întreaga viață a unei furnici, de la naștere până la moarte. Am folosit această carte pentru a o citi cu voce tare unor preșcolari și voi continua să o fac oriunde va fi nevoie. Această carte are imagini grozave, descrieri și informații chiar mai bune.

[Alexis Sillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can help little kids to understand and 'live' in the life of an ant. Children have a short attention span, so just boring information about facts would not keep their attention, but this take on ants will!

[Rebecca]

Interesting look at the life of an ant, simple enough for my younger kids (4&6), but interesting and humorous to keep my older (9&11) kids interested.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series! Each book is so informative, the pictures are eye catching and helpful, and the facts are told in such an engaging way.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly in-depth and informative look at ants, with highly detailed illustrations that take readers directly into the insects' world.

[Dominique Woodbridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because it was very informative. It provided information on an aunts entire life, from birth to death. I would use this book for read-aloud in a first grade classroom. It can be related to science because it is all about ants. It could be used for a science unit on insects. This book has great images and even better descriptions and information. The end of the book compares and contrasts ants to humans, which I think would be very informative for young children. Another part of this book I really like is the end of the book provides a "did you know" section. This section provides students with extra knowledge and facts they probably didn't know. I would definitely use this book in my classroom, it provides students with a lot of knowledge and they would find it interesting.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A far more interesting story than I expected. One really learns about ants here and the illustrations are just as good as the text. This is written for the reader to learn about the life cycle of an ant and the work they do.

Nicely done!
****
Read this with the class today to wrap up our week of investigating ants. While it is written for younger children, it's a fun read. Lots of tie-ins to things we read and learned about this week.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of several titles in this science series, readable text with an appealing use of second person voice is used to fully explore the life of an ant, from the ant's point of view. Illustrations are appealing while incorporating accurate and informative science. Content answers and generates questions for further investigation.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informational/Concept.
Themes- ants, food chains, life cycles.
Classroom use- talk about the difference between mammals and insects (humans/ants), have students draw the life of a different ant from the end of the book ant in a comic and research the type of ant that they're drawing. Go outside, take pictures if ants in action, and place them in a collage of life cycle stages/jobs.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating look at ants - how they are born, where and how they live, their characteristics and the different jobs they do. The ending is a bit disjointed, but overall the book is informative and interesting.

[Carrie Gelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not know about "anting" - where birds pick up the ants and put them under their wings because the acid in their bodies kills the ticks that bite the birds! So many interesting facts in these little books.a

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are several of these books about several insects, and I highly recommend them. This book is written in second person, teaching you about ants while immersing you in their daily lives. Beautiful illustrations give a sense of scale.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great illustrations. Informative text is easy to understand.

[Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

My students like this book!