How to Walk an Ant

The narrator of this off-the-wall guide is a girl named Amariyah, who has a jumble of ink lines for hair and an unshakeable belief in her expertise as an ant walker. She offers nine steps to help readers replicate her success, although her approach isn't without hiccups: when she coaxes an ant onto a leash ("Tie the smallest bow in the universe then secure the leash between the ant's thorax and head"), the insect looks dubious about the whole enterprise, and Amariyah unwisely commits herself to walking an entire hungry colony ("repeat steps two through seven three thousand and twenty-eight times"). Everything comes to a screeching, tangled halt when she collides with a peer who has styled herself as a ladybug walker--a scene rendered as a glorious mess of strings, ants, ladybugs and splotches of red and green--but a friendship is forged over a solemnly staged bug funeral and ice cream cones ("Celebrate when you reach your goal"). Derby, making a highly original debut, offers sly comic timing and deadpan prose that feel right at home with her scratchily inked, goth-vibed art style. Ages 4-8. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Mar.)

PreS-Gr 1---Expert ant walker Amariyah shares her valuable experience in this simple nine-step guide. It starts out easy enough as she explains how to find the ants, gain their trust, and even put a fancy leash on them. However, by step eight, Amariyah finds herself swarmed. This leads to an unfortunate accident with a ladybug walker when their lines tangle up. A new friendship, and business partnership, is born by the end of this amusing debut. Derby writes in an adorable childlike voice; Amariyah sounds like a kid playing at a job, and her logic is whimsical. Kids will find certain ideas, like using grandma's fake nail as a bridge for the ants, entertaining. To maintain the illusion that this is a DIY guidebook, each section includes instructions, tips, and rules, which are written by hand, as well as helpful, minimally colored visuals, made from watercolors and thick inks. Finally, Amariyah provides additional information about ants within an appendix and glossary. VERDICT Children will be tickled by this plot-driven guide and its novel conceit.--Rachel Forbes, Oakville Public Library, Ont.

"Budding entomologists (and plenty of regular kids) will delight in the focus on these commonly seen insects. Be prepared for leash requests—so convincing is this guidebook. Teachers may also appreciate it as a humorous model when explaining elements of informational text. "—Kirkus

"Derby, making a highly original debut, offers sly comic timing and deadpan prose that feel right at home with her scratchily inked, goth-vibed art style."—Publishers Weekly

"The confident guide format is funny, and the contrast of our heroine's assured manner with the fanciful details and chaotic outcome ramps up the comedy. It's the art that kicks this through the goalposts, though; Derby's watercolors, in a limited palette where black and gray predominate, have the fierce childlike disorder of Neal Layton with a touch of Stephen Gammell in the squirrely lines."—Bulletin of the Center of Children's Books

"Amariyah sounds like a kid playing at a job, and her logic is whimsical. Kids will find certain ideas, like using grandma's fake nail as a bridge for the ants, entertaining. To maintain the illusion that this is a DIY guidebook, each section includes instructions, tips, and rules, which are written by hand, as well as helpful, minimally colored visuals, made from watercolors and thick inks."— School Library Journal