Book Worth Reading: EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS by A.S. King

I usually don't like books when I can detect that the story is just about delivering some sort of a message.  EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS by A.S. King does have a powerful thread of anti-bullying that runs through it, but there is so much more to love about this book!

Lucky Linderman comes from a less than perfect family (don't we all?).  His father behaves like a turtle--always in his shell, and his mother is a squid--swimming laps all day instead of facing her problems.  His grandfather is a prisoner of war in Vietnam that was never brought home.  Lucky has his own problems too, like the bully that has been torturing him since he was seven when the kid peed on his feet and then got Lucky in trouble for it.

But this isn't just a simple story about a contemporary kid with bully problems.  Lucky dreams every night about rescuing his grandfather from the jungle, and the dreams actually start to get very real.  You almost get the sense that maybe he really is with his grandfather every night, which is really cool.

To me though, the best characters in the book are the ants.  After a particularly traumatic event with the bully, Lucky begins seeing these ants that provide commentary for the rest of the book.  They say the most hilarious and on point things that everyone thinks but it was so unexpectedly awesome to see them actually printed in a book.

All in all, whether you read it because of the message, or you read it just to enjoy an incredibly well written book, EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS is a great choice!