There Are No Ants in This Book

In this self-referential picture book, a child goes on a picnic which they deem is perfect because “there are no ants in this book.” But wait, there appears to be one ant - an acorn ant - named thus because, as it tells us, it lives “inside an acorn”. Well, one ant isn’t too bad, the child thinks, but then two more appear, a dinosaur ant and a pharaoh ant, who also offer some information about themselves. The child despairs as more and more ants make themselves known, ruining the picnic. Soon enough, however, the child comes to learn that they actually like ants. And just in time, too, for who should come along next, but an anteater. The child hides the ants under their hat and tells the anteater, “Didn’t you read the title of this book?” and it skulks away, leaving the child to enjoy their ant-filled picnic. One of the last pages lists all the ants in the book and offers a few more interesting facts about them.

Told in first person and with simple words and sentences, There Are No Ants in This Book is a cheery informative picture book for insect-lovers. Ants are often overlooked in favour of showier butterflies, ladybugs and other kid-friendly insects, and so it is nice to see this more mundane insect get its due. The repetitive nature of the narrative will be comforting and familiar to younger readers, and the book’s meta qualities, while nothing new, are fun and include the reader in the story.

Pirolli’s illustrations are bright and eye-catching and maintain visual interest by offering a variety of perspectives: on some pages, readers see the child’s entire body; in others, their head and shoulders take up the entire two-page spread. Scale is also played with in the depiction of the ants who range from small in contrast to the picnic food to large with full pages dedicated to them in their environments.

There Are No Ants in This Book is a fun and informative picture book for young insect-lovers.