The Ant Bully

by John Nickle

Lucas wishes he could squash that big bully Sid like a bug. But Lucas is too little, and so he bullies the ants instead. Feature film coming Summer 2006!

Lucas is picked on by the neighborhood bully, and in turn terrorizes the ant colony. The ants create a potion that shrinks Lucas to the size of an ant. They put him on trial, and find him guilty of crimes against the colony -- his sentence? To live and work as an ant! Lucas learns about teamwork and the importance of friendship--and in the end, he saves the colony and is returned to his normal size.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy, Fiction, Media Tie In, Storytime

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Mkittysamom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great story about bullies! Shows what comes around goes around 😉! My kids liked it to, great lesson to treat all people and Animals with respect and understanding.

[Molly Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary
Lucas is a young boy who is being bullied by a boy named Sid. Lucas decides to bully a congregation of ants with a water gun, just like he is being bullied. Lucas is then shrunk and forced to talk to the queen of the ants. He is later forced to work with the ants to repay them for ruining flooding their congregation with water. Throughout the adventure Lucas repays the ants and is rewarded for his service. He wakes up the next day as his normal self but with a shrunken Sid who will now have to pay his price for bullying.

Theme
The theme of this book is bullying. More specifically, bullying those smaller than you and more defenseless. The theme of this novel helps children learn to not torment other individuals who especially cannot defend themselves. In addition, the text teaches children how to learn from their mistakes and correct their mistakes. Instead of purely feeling sorry for your wrongdoing, a child can learn to apologize and try to compensate for their mistakes later on.

Personal Response
I love the plot of this book and the way it portrays making up for your mistakes. I believe children can relate to this story because they can use their imagination with the ants. Children love to play outside and may have already tormented insects outside like Lucas. Therefore, the concept is not foreign to any children who enjoy playing outside, particularly boys who are likely to play with things in nature.

Recommendation
I recommend this book because it shows children how bullies can change and repay someone for the wrong they have done. The book allows children to use their imagination due to some fictional aspects of the plot. I believe the book shows great illustrations while also helping children understand the concept of bullying in a more relatable way.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It makes sense this was turned into a movie in 2006, the premise really lends itself to film. The illustrations where the boy lives among the ants and defends them from threats could easily be fleshed out into dramatic battle scenes. That being said it didn't amount to much. The Ant Bully was a pricey, box office bomb with characters voiced by the likes of Julia Roberts, Paul Giamatti, and Nicholas Cage.

Really interesting art style too, which was reminiscent of 2000s computer animation you would see in Pixar/Disney films (Meet the Robinsons say) almost retrofuturistic with the really smooth surfaces, the kids beanie and his space age water gun.

Surprisingly though the movie's animation looks nothing like the art in this book. I think that alone would have improved the prospects of the ill-fated film adaptation.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ant Bully is the story of a child who-picked on by the neighborhood bully, in turn picks on ants. The ants decide they have had enough and shrink Lucas down to their size. Lucas learns a lesson, and so do the children. The Ant Bully teaches a wonderful lesson about looking at things from someone else's perspective.

[Axl Mendoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ant Bully is a fun and imaginative story that shows what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. I liked how Lucas learns to understand the ants he once bothered. In the classroom, it can be used to talk about empathy and the effects of bullying, helping students think about how their actions affect others and encouraging kindness.

[Astrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this story foremost for the anti-bullying concept it presents, simply and effectively. And the damage is experienced by animals as well as humans. The illustrations are expressive, and also humorous.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucas learns a lesson about bullying when he is pulled into the ant hole he has been tormenting. The queen puts him on trial and they sentence him to working in the ant hill. A quick lesson in empathy abounds.

[Nichole · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little boy is bullied at school so he bullies ants. The ants shrink him and he is basically enslaved by them to make him learn his lesson. But then they start to like him? So they free him after one last mission. And then they shrink and enslave his bully..... Like... what?

[Adam Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious book in the Honey, I shrunk the Kids theme. Perfect for lessons that teach to look at things from a new perspective.

[Kelly Haacke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose the book "The Ant Bully" By John Nickle. This picture book is about a boy named Lucas who gets bullied by his neighbor Sid. Lucas wishes he could squash Sid like a bug, but since Sid is bigger than Lucas, Lucas bullies the ants. Lastly, the ants don't appreciate Sid's games and they attack back. I would say this book is for children ages 5 and up. I gave the book a 3 out off 5 because I thought it was kind of a long picture book and it was an okay book. The plot and the characters were effective and also I thought it was a good theme. I'm assuming the theme is bullying which, is something that still goes on today with children, in and out of school. So I thought the theme was very relevant to today's society and what children of all ages go through everyday, and also when someone is bullied they sometimes take it out on other things/people. In this case Sid was bullying Lucas and Lucas took it out on the ants with his water gun. The illustrations and colors were very effective and they expressed the mood of each scene on each page. Lastly, I feel like the language of this book was more for older children, like I mentioned earlier maybe for children ages 5 and up because there were some big words in there that even 3 or 4 year olds might not know/understand. I think this book would be appealing for children because when they read the title and see "The Ant..." and have an interest in ants/bugs then they might have an interest in reading it.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucas is bullied by other kids because of his glasses and funny little hat. Sid is the worst bully. Lucas deals with the bullying by bullying the ants on the sidewalk. The ants have finally had enough and carry Lucas into their den underground where he meets the Ant Queen. She orders the Ant Wizard to shrink him and put him on trial. He is assigned to hard manual labor as punishment for how he's treated the ants. After awhile, Lucas come to enjoy working with the ants. When he is sent up into his old house to retrieve a request for the Queen, he and the other ants are spotted by Lucas' father who tries to swat them. Lucas grabs onto his father's glasses so that his helper ants can get away. For this the Ant Queen orders the Ant Wizard to increase his size again. Lucas wakes up back in his normal size and is immediately confronted with Sid the bully. But the ants have already dealt with him.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ant Bully is a subtle lesson to teach kids what it is like to be a bully and to be bullied and how its evil passes from one kid to another. Lucas, with funny glasses and a strange hat, is bullied by neighborhood meanie, Sid. Lucas, in turn, bullies something smaller than himself, a colony of ants. When the ants have had enough, they work together to teach Lucas a lesson. Lucas slowly realizes how his bullying is destroying the ant's colony and the queen gives Lucas a job to finally redeem himself. In turn, the ants help Lucas with his Sid problem.


Used for "UGH!...BUGS!" storytime-September, 2010.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't the world's greatest story, but it went over really well as a read-aloud. The kids were initially interested because of the movie that came out last year, but they also got into the plot and the surprise ending. The illustrations are nice and big, which is helpful for a read-aloud, but I'm not sure how much of the detail comes through for the kids in the back row.

[Lanelibrarylady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and simple, with the message "treat others the way you would want to be treated", and "you never know how some one feels until you are in their shoes". Simple text and eye catching graphics will make this sometimes sensitive topic an enjoyable read.

[Ham · Rating 2 out of 5]

The movie wasn't great but it was certainly better than this book.
Nickle's plot was sloppy, his illustrations mediocre, and the story's moral, ambiguous at best. He learns to be nice to insects while getting revenge on his own enemies. That's healthy.
Completely underwhelmed.

[Alexandra Chauran · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book even though it didn't teach any practical lessons about bullying. The tale of a boy shrinking to the size of an ant reminded me delightfully of my Honey I Shrunk The Kids childhood fascination with the idea.

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucas is being bullied by Sid who is much bigger than him, so in turn he bullies ants, who he is much larger than. The ants have enough and shrink him and set him at hard labor for all his misdeeds. In the end, they come to respect and like each other.

Good illustrations.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

AR 3.2 -- 0.5

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute story about a young boy taking his frustrations out on ants. The queen ant gets back at him and teaches him a valuable lesson.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think our girls would like this book, but they love it!

[Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

We've had some trouble with our 4 year old bullying his little brother and this seemed to give him something to think about.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

We enjoyed this book a lot. We would talk about how cool it would be if you could go into an ant hill. They work too hard so we wouldn't stay long!:)

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank was totally fascinated by this book, and read it many times by himself in addition to all the times he had me read it to him.

[Stacie Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and fanatical book about bullies. Interesting to see the life of an ant and how they view humans or "bullies". Good classroom tool if bullying is present.

[Chelsea Bashore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this with my little brother and he loved it :)

[Kate Hastings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grades K-3. Lucus becomes a bully (to ants) when he is bullied by an older child. Good book to use with bullies who might be taking their aggression/frustration out on younger/smaller classmates.

[Shannon Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute story-I was glad that Sid the bully was shrunk at the end!

[Sally Staples · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to my kindergarten class. They really enjoyed the illustrations. It is about bullying which led into a good lesson about how to be a good friend.

[Courtney K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book about bullying.

[Scott Bemisdarfer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to discuss bullying and conflict. My four year old thinks this book is mean and doesn't like how the ants are treated.