From the Bookshelf of Mock Printz 2026…

Everybody Sees the Ants

A.S. King

Start date: October 14, 2011

Finish date: November 13, 2011

Discussion: Mock Printz 2012

Why we're reading this: Everybody Sees the Ants received 4 votes in our poll, tying for second place.
[close] Everybody Sees the Ants received 4 votes in our poll, tying for second place.

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Mock Printz 2012

* Printz Poll Results are IN!
By Kathy · 3 posts · 107 views

last updated Jan 23, 2012 11:20AM

* And The 2012 Winner Is...
By Kathy · 32 posts · 216 views

last updated Jan 21, 2012 12:17PM

What Members Thought

Nov 25, 2011 Barbara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: depression, bullies

After reading last year's Please Ignore Vera Dietz, I've been anxious to read this title. When a friend at the ALAN Conference offered to trade it to me for another book, I quickly agreed. I was not disappointed. In this brilliant novel, the author shows how being bullied can lead to depression and how having questions unanswered can lead to uncertainty and confusion. Fifteen-year-old Lucky Linderman is sleepwalking through life. Not only is he dealing with a distant father, an ineffective mothe After reading last year's Please Ignore Vera Dietz, I've been anxious to read this title. When a friend at the ALAN Conference offered to trade it to me for another book, I quickly agreed. I was not disappointed. In this brilliant novel, the author shows how being bullied can lead to depression and how having questions unanswered can lead to uncertainty and confusion. Fifteen-year-old Lucky Linderman is sleepwalking through life. Not only is he dealing with a distant father, an ineffective mother, a missing grandfather, a deceased grandmother who was quite an advocate in her day, but he also dreams of finding his grandfather in the jungles of Asia where he is being held as a prisoner after the Vietnam War. In his vivid fantasy world, Lucky is able to act heroically and behave as a man. That's something he has been unable to do, especially after school bully Nader McMillan escalates his campaign against Lucky and others in the high school. Lucky has never forgotten the time Nader deliberately urinated on him in a restaurant bathroom when he was seven, and there have been many other incidents of violence directed against him with no consequences.

Angry at his father for various reasons, including his inability to confront the bully's family, Lucky's mother takes Lucky on a three-week vacation to Arizona where he starts to heal and gets to know family and new friends, all of whom are in prisons of their own. If his grandfather spent his last days in a POW camp and Lucky is in the prison of high school, beautiful Ginny is loved only for her hair, and his aunt and uncle keep secrets from each other, possibly emotional prisoners of lives they would like to live but cannot. Answers do not come easily to Lucky or to his parents, for that matter, but when he returns to Pennsylvania, clearly, he is a different boy than the one who left.

This is a moving book filled with moments of pain and moments of humor. Every page contains a nugget of truth about human behavior, and the actions we use to keep ourselves sane. Scattered throughout the book are statistics about the draft during Vietnam as well as the number of POWs left behind, essential reminders during these times of conflict and undeclared wars in which we find ourselves involved once again. ...more

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Oct 12, 2011 Mary rated it it was amazing

This well written young adult novel Everybody Sees the Ants, captures the essence of bullying. The author states that the book originated from "an idea that we are all prisoners" and that bullying is a widely ignored form of torture. She weaves the coping of Lucky Linderman with dream sequences of his grandfather's experiences in Vietnam. His grandfather did not come home from the Vietnam War and the family has never recovered from his MIA status. King has such a wonderful eye for exposing the c ...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Diane rated it really liked it

Smart writing put together in a kaliedascope of possibly imaginary events in the jungles of Southeast Asia, mixing with probable real life episodes of bullying, male bonding and a gorgeous ninja of the night. Must read if you like offbeat.

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Nov 17, 2011 elissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: my_10s_reads, capitol_choices_archives, youngadult, magicalrealism, toodarkforme

3.5 stars. King's books push it over the edge of darkness for me, but both of the ones I've read are definitely unique, well done, and compelling reading. ...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Ricki rated it really liked it

Lucky Linderman's family is defined by the fact that his grandfather went missing in the Vietnam War. They wear POW/MIA shirts and hang flags on everything. When Nader, who has bullied Lucky since he was seven, rubs Lucky's face into pavement, his mother decides they are going to vacation in Arizona. Lucky discovers that she and his distant father are having problems. The only person Lucky feels he can talk to is his grandfather, who appears in his dreams, helping him through his problems. When ...more

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Apr 27, 2012 Mary Beth rated it really liked it

Shelves: guy-reads, character-driven, bullying

Great guy read!

Author does a great job of comparing bullying and fighting in a war. Great lessons without being didactic.

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Nov 05, 2011 Jennifer rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult-teen, on-my-ipad

At Reading Rants:
http://www.readingrants.org/2011/11/0... ...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Chrissy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, ya

4.5 stars

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Nov 07, 2012 Lorna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, realistic-fiction, ala-best-book

This is a smart, funny book and I did not want to put it down. Fifteen year old Lucky is such a believable teen male character. I loved the way A.S. King weaved the story of the missing grandfather in the Vietnam war with current day issues such as bullying. Very original. Deals with some mature subject matter.

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