Why the Book We Are Ants Should Be in Your Home
by Jeneane Vanderhoof
We Are the Ants, came up as a suggested book for me on Google play. Normally I pass those up but since it said it was on a banned book list, the cover and the title made me think, huh? And, as I read the first few chapters, while there was cute, dark, sarcastic humor, there was nothing that I saw that should be burnt. All these people who ban books, I don’t think they are “real reader’s” themselves, having no respect for literature. As I read on, I found this to be true as this book ended up as a teaching tool, in my mind, for parents and child both. And, that I found that the mere mention of a suicide in a book (as it was briefly mentioned here), can be used as a tool to ban it, I use this to verify the fact on my view of those who ban books.
It took me a while to learn the main character’s name Henry, due to the fact he was always referred to as Space Boy, the secret he was abducted by aliens, once told to a friend, and passed around to his classmates. The great comparison made in the book, by Henry, that aliens experiment on him just as he has dissected a frog, answers one of those great questions for us, why aliens would abduct a human. Such a simple answer. As our race has advanced, the greatest achievements have been made because of knowledge. And, as humans are curious, why would we not think any other living, cognizant creatures would be? Knowledge has always been power, just as knowledge of humans would be power to space creatures.
However, the aliens have not picked up Henry just for experimentation. For some reason, the aliens have picked a 16 year old boy to save the world or destroy it. Since these aliens can’t communicate vocally, themselves, to humans, the whole dilemma is relayed to Henry through a series of sensations sent to his body. When Henry does something that the aliens don’t want him to do or when the answer to a question is no, a shock is sent to Henry. Similarly, a feeling of pure euphoria is sent to Henry when the answer to a question is yes or when the aliens want Henry to do something. A feeling akin to deja vu (but not quite) made me think that maybe the aliens went to Stanford in the 70s or 80s, maybe having kidnapped some of the professors there ;)?
Using feelings of shock and euphoria, no words, Henry discovers that something is going to destroy the earth. And, it has something to do with Henry pressing a button. However, when a human thinks to make something happen he presses a button. Humans don’t press buttons to stop something, usually. Not unless we are turning something off (maybe, a clue). The aliens give Henry the feeling of euphoria when he asks them if he has to press a button by January 29th to stop the destruction of the world. Henry has 146 days to press a button and save the world. But, are the aliens telling Henry the truth? Will he press a button and save the earth? Or, are they tricking Henry into destroying his entire race? What is their ultimate experiment? Is saving the earth, pressing a button, so simple? Because nothing in Henry’s life has ever seemed simple.
When Henry is returned to earth, of course, like any other person he thinks of both of his options. Not that people would not want to save the human race but, there are a lot of bad things in the world today. Especially in the U.S. I can’t imagine what it is like for teens to grow up in the U.S. that is very different than it was when I was that age. For the most part, my generation was encouraged to include all, not discriminate. The odd thing however, is though we were raised to act that way it is my generation that seems to act the most absurd and raise their poor children that way. My only hope is that these children learn to think for themselves and discount the ignorance.
And Henry, he lives in a city where all the boys his age that are cool, accepted, have money and cars. Henry has neither. So, that he could, by not pushing a button, destroy all this,sometimes, I’m sure, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing. All the boys that call him Space Boy, well, if Space Boy doesn’t push that button, it’s your demise. And, ultimately, this book goes to show you that you never know who you are making fun of or even that homeless man on the street, who he could be. Cause the boy who you make fun of in school, aliens might give him the right to save or destroy a planet. You never know. Look at what happened to our world with COVID. The first time I saw everyone wearing masks I thought I was in a dystopian novel. Odd, how strange becomes normal.
A scene, I believe, that could be a main one that causes the book to be banned was one, after reading and thinking on, I thought very differently about. In it, Henry goes into a bathroom at school and Marcus, a handsome, rough, outlaw type, pushes him roughly inside a bathroom stall and kisses him. Marcus then tells Henry he wants to hook up with him, his parents in Tokyo, inviting him to his house. And, while Heney wants to go, is attracted to Marcus and flattered at his attentions and attraction (befuddled by it, too) goes so far as to ask Marcus to come to his house, ultimately, the scene turning into nothing else for poor Henry. And I agree that this simply is not a scene that you want, in any way, to tell other readers of this age that it is okay to happen inside a school bathroom. The decision however, should not be to ban this book.
When I read the bathroom scene I see We Are Ants, as a book I would like my child to read because it is a book, this scene in particular, that can be used to talk to children and teens about acceptable behavior for themselves and others. I was outraged to read about what Marcus did to Henry and also, I must admit, quite scared that teens could have this kind of intense sexual experience so early in their lives. I would want my child to know that Marcus’s behavior in the bathroom is not acceptable. You do not treat others, especially a person you have a casual relationship with, with this type of sexual aggression and what is tantamount to violence, really. And while parents may say children are too young for this, to read things like this, when my son was eight he came home from school with a story that scared me, angered me and made me proud of my child, for the actions he took in it. In fact it was something very much like this (but hopefully, I think, not as aggressive, as the boys were younger).
My son had walked into his grade school boys bathroom and, in one of the open stalls, two boys were there, both of them with their backs towards my son “moving on top of one another”. I remember looking at him and thinking, no, these kids are so young. While I knew my son wouldn’t make up things, especially when he went to the principal when he asked me, “Mama what were they doing?” because he thought they were hurting one another, I thought, what am I going to say to this kid? And, had I known I would ever have to talk about this moment again I would have tried to remember what I said. But, the whole situation was quite puzzling, hard for even me to understand, worse for my son and difficult to explain. There was also the fact that I didn’t know if one or both of the boys were consenting to the act, that made it all the worse.
That is why books like these, ones that set up situations in which to open up the lines of communication from parent to child, are worth reading, not burning. In fact all parents should read this book, alongside their child, to talk about appropriate treatment for themselves from others. If my child were in that bathroom stall and got pushed in this aggressive, sexual manner, to respond the way Henry did, attracted, rather than repulsed and angry, is one that really shows how Henry feels about himself. Most people with a high self esteem, when in the same situation, would be angry, repulsed and never want to be around the person, they would be outraged, as I was. However Henry wants to have Marcus over his home, likes the attention, no matter that it is the wrong type. These are the types of things to cover with your child, not hide from them. Because you wouldn’t want your child to ever respond to Marcus the way in which Henry did, would you? Accept this kind of treatment for their body and themself?
Whether Henry saves the world or leaves it to his demise are up to him, in the end. But, a boy with low esteem, angry at the world, probably himself, what will he do? The fact that this is a fun story, with scenes that open up many things to discuss with your teens make it a fabulous read for a family together. I would envy the family who had a book club, it would simply turn me green. And this would be a great book to read together, to talk about, to teach your child about the right and wrongs in life, what they should want for themselves. My mother never sat me down, had no type of discussion about the birds and the bees, nothing about the facts of life, what I should want for myself as a woman, as a human. And I know how many mistakes I made in my life because of it. We simply cannot choose to hide things from our children. Because while some may think it protects their child the sad fact is that if and when they have an experience in life and are unprepared because they weren’t made knowledgeable, well, they are not going to know what to do. And that, my friends, is when mistakes are made. And then who are we going to blame? We Are Ants, by Shaun David Hutchinson, shouldn’t be blamed for being more like reality than we want to believe. And, we can’t hide from reality.
Jeneane Vanderhood writes book reviews for a local free newspaper in CLeveland, OH. You can find more of her reviews online @ her Goodreads page http://www.goodreads.com/jeneanevanderhoof