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We Are the Ants

We Are the Ants

by Shaun David Hutchinson
     
 

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From the “author to watch” (Kirkus Reviews) of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes a brand-new novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving.

Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry

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Overview

From the “author to watch” (Kirkus Reviews) of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes a brand-new novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving.

Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button.

Only he isn’t sure he wants to.

After all, life hasn’t been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer’s. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend’s suicide last year.

Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him.

But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it…or let the world—and his pain—be destroyed forever.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
★ 12/14/2015
Henry Denton's life is in tatters—he was abandoned by his father; his boyfriend, Jesse, hanged himself; and he is regularly abducted by aliens who have put Earth's very fate in his hands. The 16-year-old, nicknamed "Space Boy" by his tormentors, is self-destructing until he finds a friend in new kid Diego and an ally in Jesse's former pal Audrey. In a style reminiscent of Slaughterhouse-Five, Hutchinson (The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley) intersperses Henry's experience aboard the "slugger" spaceship with his trials on Earth, where he's "a punch line at school, a ghost at home." The extraterrestrial scenes are less the makings of a SF novel than a metaphor for Henry's isolation and alienation from his family and peers, including a gang of bullies who brutally assault him in a shower and then publicly shame him. Hutchinson has crafted an unflinching portrait of the pain and confusion of young love and loss, thoughtfully exploring topics like dementia, abuse, sexuality, and suicide as they entwine with the messy work of growing up. Ages 14–up. Agent: Amy Boggs, Donald Maass Literary Agency. (Jan.)
STARRED REVIEW Booklist
“Hutchinson’s excellent novel of ideas invites readers to wonder about their place in a world that often seems uncaring and meaningless. The novel is never didactic; on the contrary, it is unfailingly dramatic and crackling with characters who become real upon the page. Will Henry press the button? We all await his decision.”
VOYA, December 2015 (Vol. 38, No. 5) - Lynndy Hurdle
Believe it or not, Henry’s main problem is not that he gets repeatedly abducted by aliens—it is that the aliens have given him the choice to save Earth from complete destruction or not. Back on Earth things get even harder. Henry is barely holding it together at home and school. His family is broken and troubled. At school, his problems increase. Henry is constantly reminded of his boyfriend Jesse’s suicide, and he avoids his and Jesse’s mutual friend. Then a group of popular guys decide to make it their mission to torture Henry. In the midst of all the pain and drama in his life, Jesse meets Diego. He begins to take a serious look at the people and situations on Earth in order to decide if Earth and humanity are worth saving. We Are The Ants is a very complex story about serious subjects; however, the writing is not preachy or condescending. The voices of each character are strong and unique. As the characters in the story interact with one another, their language and actions match the situations in which they find themselves. The bullying scenes in the book are intense, violent, and often graphic. Therefore, because Henry experiences so many bad situations, the language that he uses is very explicit. The relationships between Henry and Jesse and Henry and Diego are handled delicately, but the relationship between Henry and Marcus is more shocking. This title is recommend for mature readers. Reviewer: Lynndy Hurdle; Ages 15 to 18.
School Library Journal
★ 11/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—Henry's life is complicated. His previous boyfriend committed suicide without warning or explanation. His jerk brother's girlfriend is pregnant. His nana has Alzheimer's. And his new boyfriend refuses to acknowledge their relationship, instead humiliating and attacking him publicly. Henry is also haunted by questions about why his father left and if Henry himself is culpable. This is all further complicated by the fact that he is regularly abducted by aliens who drop him off naked in various locations throughout the city. The aliens offer Henry the opportunity to save the world from obliteration by simply pressing a red button. The catch? Henry isn't so sure it's worth saving. Hutchinson's voice rings true. This work effectively combines the best of elements of Nick Burd's The Vast Fields of Ordinary (Dial, 2009) with hints of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. VERDICT Angst-loving teens will devour this lengthy tome, yearning to see if Henry can consummate a new romance. Highly recommended.—Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2015-09-16
Extraterrestrials offer depressed, acerbic Henry Denton the chance to save the Earth from certain destruction by pressing a red button. The stalk-eyed, variably tentacled sluggers' repeated, humiliating abductions and habit of dumping Henry in strange places with minimal clothing make Henry's life tough, but the focus here is less on the aliens and more on the button. Bullied at school, pushed around at home, and reeling from his once-boyfriend's suicide, Henry doesn't think he wants to press it. "If you knew the world was going to end but you could prevent it, would you?" becomes a sort of refrain throughout, and each character who answers not only reveals his or her own carefully imagined depths, but also sheds light on Henry's existential dilemmas. Whether Henry is hooking up in secret with the popular golden boy who torments him in public, watching his beloved Nana lose her memories, or being physically and verbally assaulted at school, at parties, and online, he maintains a biting, vulgar wit. There is both a budding romance and, via Henry's older brother, a baby on the way, but the novel meticulously avoids easy fixes for Henry's nihilism. Instead, his journey is subtle and hard-won, with meditations on the past, the present, and the future that are equal parts sarcastic and profound. Bitterly funny, with a ray of hope amid bleakness. (Fiction. 14-18)

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Product Details

ISBN-13:
9781481449632
Publisher:
Simon Pulse
Publication date:
01/19/2016
Pages:
464
Age Range:
14 - 17 Years