Everybody Sees The Ants

King, A. (2011). Everybody sees the ants. NY: Little Brown.

Lucky Linderman has been bullied by Nader McMillan since he was just a very young boy.  Everything seems to have gone south since his grandmother died.  His grandfather was a POW in Vietnam, who his dad never got to meet.  His grandmothers last request was that he save his grandfather.  He starts having dreams about being in the jungle with his grandfather. The strange this is when he wakes up there are things from his dreams that couldn't come from anywhere else.  He ends up going to Arizona to stay with his Mom's brother and his wife Jodi after Nader scapes his face over the concrete at the pool.  This is at the pool that they go to every day since his mother swims all the time and his dad is always away cooking at the restaurant where he is a chef.  They end up coming back and he has a final dream were his grandfather dies and he has to bury him.  He then has to tells the story of his dreams to his dad and hands him his father's wedding ring.

I really wanted him to save his grandfather and was crushed when he couldn't. This book would be great to use in the classroom to bring up the discussion of bullying and self-worth. 


I really think that this book shows us great examples of characters dealing with conflict.  Lucky has conflict with Nader, and his Dad.