Two Bad Ants

by Chris Van Allsburg

Book Overview

Two-time Caldecott medal winning author-illustrator Chris Van Allsburg, author of Jumanji and ThePolarExpress, brings his signature whimsical storytelling and dazzling artwork to a tale about two ants on the adventure of a lifetime.

The ants are tired of their humdrum life in the same ant hole, so they're off to the strange new world of a kitchen in search of sugar crystals for their queen.

But when two ants stay behind...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395486688
• ISBN13: 9780395486689
• Release Date: October 1988
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 31 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.4" x 11.7"
• Age Range: 4 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2

Customer Reviews

Awesome Ants!

This book is so, so, so cool! We loved this book very much. We could read it over and over again. It can make a very good gift for someone who loves books. I highly recommend this book for all ages. It has very very good illustrations. This book is really really awesome! It is funny, you would think it would be boring because it is called "Two Bad Ants" but after you start to look at the cool pictures and read more about it, you will think it is really cool, too! It is about two ants who are so close to being eaten but escape. I hope you will enjoy the book. If you buy it I think you will like it a lot. -KM & SS

excellent point of view book!

my students loved the setup of this book. it is well written and the perspective of the ants is awesome. I'm going to get the rest of his books. thank you so much.

A fun and functional book

This book has wonderful illustrations. Most of all it is great for teaching writing. The story is simple, but imaginative. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end. The middle of the story has several conflicts and resolutions. If you are not a teacher, it also is a great read aloud for kids, with a comforting ending.

"Two Bad Ants" learn a valuable life-lesson.

"Two Bad Ants" was first published over ten years ago, but I somehow overlooked it. This gem is worth adding to your collection of children's books, and it's one that children enjoy hearing over and over again. Best of all, "Two Bad Ants" is a book that YOU won't tire of READING aloud to your kids!! What I love about this book is that Van Allsburg isn't afraid to use big words in a book for children; simplistic books are great for kids who are trying to learn to read, but they need books with more complicated vocabulary in order to increase their understanding of language. Van Allsburg really delivers with this well-written, suspenseful, entertaining tale of two ants who discover a scary world they'd never dreamed existed: a modern kitchen, replete with electrical appliances and the inherent dangers thereof. Van Allsburg delivers the story's message simply and directly on the last page of the book: the ants learn that they belong at home and that will be happiest in their familiar surroundings. The easy life they'd envisioned could be theirs in the strange new indoor world of the house was more dangerous than they could have imagined, and wasn't worth the trouble. The drawings are simple and clean, and the color-pallette is limited, which makes for fewer distractions. The artwork is really fantastic, but the vivid pictures Van Allsburg draws with his rich, descriptive complex sentences are even more satisfying. This is a book that my children and I will enjoy for years to come.

Right up there with "Pooh" for the best in children's lit!

A #1 BUGMAN favorite, Two Bad Ants allows children (and everyone else) to experience the world through an ant's point of view. Van Allsburg's phenomenal illustrations take us through a grass jungle, up a brick mountain, and into a strange world where "even the sky is gone"! We are carried through this thrilling adventure with two ants who get a little greedy and find all sorts of trouble. The result is a spellbinding ant's-eye trip through a normal kitchen that teaches the bad ants a memorable lesson. Two Bad Ants is better than a 10 - one of the best ever