My Brother, Ant

by Betsy Byars, Marc Simont (Illustrator), Brittany Hatrack (Read by)

Overview

Meet Ant, the little brother who's big on laughs. In four upbeat stories, Ant and his big brother confront the monster under the bed, recreate the story of the three little pigs, and write a letter to Santa—in July! Sometimes funny, always endearing, Ant is invariably entertaining.? "A great storyteller and a great illustrator are at their very best in this tender, funny easy-to-read."—Booklist, starred review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101641361
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	01/01/1998
Series:	Penguin Young Readers Level 3 Series
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Betsy Byars began her writing career rather late in life. "In all of my school years, . . . not one single teacher ever said to me, 'Perhaps you should consider becoming a writer,'" Byars recalls. "Anyway, I didn't want to be a writer. Writing seemed boring. You sat in a room all day by yourself and typed. If I was going to be a writer at all, I was going to be a foreign correspondent like Claudette Colbert in Arise My Love. I would wear smashing hats, wisecrack with the guys, and have a byline known round the world. My father wanted me to be a mathematician." So Byars set out to become mathematician, but when she couldn't grasp calculus in college, she turned to English. Even then, writing was not on her immediate horizon.

First, she married and started a family. The writing career didn't emerge until she was 28, a mother of two children, and living in a small place she called the barracks apartment, in Urbana, Illinois. She and her husband, Ed, had moved there in 1956 so he could attend graduate school at the University of Illinois. She was bored, had no friends, and so turned to writing to fill her time. Byars started writing articles for The Saturday Evening Post, Look,and other magazines. As her family grew and her children started to read, she began to write books for young people and, fortunately for her readers, discovered that there was more to being a writer than sitting in front of a typewriter.

"Making up stories and characters is so interesting that I'm never bored. Each book has been a different writing experience. It takes me about a year to write a book, but I spend another year thinking about it, polishing it, and making improvements. I always put something of myself intomy books -- something that happened to me. Once a wanderer came by my house and showed me how to brush my teeth with a cherry twig; that went in The House of Wingscopyright © 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

Editorial Reviews

Forget Dick and Jane. Books for beginning readers have been an honored genre in children's literature for more than 30 years, from Else Minarik and Maurice Sendak's Little Bear (1957) as well as their 1962 Caldecott Honor book, Little Bear's Visit and Arnold Lobel's classic Frog and Toad books, to Cynthia Rylant's Henry and Mudge series and the exceptional science books by writers such as Paul Showers and Joanna Cole. A great storyteller and a great illustrator are at their very best in this tender, funny "Easy-to-Read" chapter book in which a boy talks about his younger brother, Ant. The family situations are elemental, and there's not a trace of condescension. In one story, Anthony (Ant) is afraid of the monster under his bed; Dad's irritable, so the older brother has to take care of things, comfort Ant, and banish the beast. In the next story, the older boy is furious because "someone" has scribbled on his perfect spelling homework. Every chapter has a surprising twist that grows from the people and their relationships. When his brother reads to him, Ant doesn't want one word changed of "The Three Little Pigs," not one word, but then he can't bear to stay around to hear about the scary wolf. The pictures are achingly affectionate. As in his illustrations for Welch's Playing Right Field (1995), Simont shows the small child's sturdy innocence and vulnerability. Every part of Ant's body pays attention. The economy of line and language will grab new readers. They'll see that a good story can leave a lot unsaid, even while it shows you what you didn't quite know you felt.

Hazel Rochman