Title: The Little Ant Who Was Told You Can’t
Author: Timothy Ward
Illustrated by: Lucinda Ward
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-6655-0091-3
Pages: 28
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewed by: Beth Adams

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Too many people, and children in particular, when told “You can’t do something,” brings out the inner energy, stubbornness and individualism such as saying, “You want to see, I can.” And as with age comes wisdom, sometimes older and more mature experienced advice does have a good reason to be followed.

So begins the story of a personified ant named Jay, who had to go to work gathering food for the ant colony for the first day. Being a young ant and living in a typical home, filled with his stuff such as a computer, desk, bedroom decorated to his liking, and sports paraphernalia, Jay is awakened at 5 AM to begin his first day working with the other ants to gather food. Jay puts on his best basketball jersey, sneakers and shorts to wear on his first day of work. When the other ants see Jay, they say, “You can’t wear that!” They were giving him good advice because gathering food is a dirty job, and wearing overalls would be a better decision; Jay is determined to wear what he wants, especially when told “You can’t.”

So out to the picnic area all the ants go, and in order to get to the best food, they need to build an ant-bridge where a bunch of ants hold themselves together while other ants climb up and over them, reaching the height of the food which is on the table. All this time, as Jay is one of the supporting ants, the other ants, with their muddy feet, get Jay’s basketball jersey soiled and dirty. At the end of the day Jay realized it wasn’t the best idea to wear his best outfit, and should have listened to the advice of others.

Readers are introduced to the author Timothy Ward and illustrator Lucinda Ward’s married relationship, along with the background of the story, brought to mind from when the family was working in the yard with their children. With the combination of detailed, fanciful drawings, along with a quickly paced story, readers will enjoy being transported into the ant family and learn about how teamwork provides enough food for the ant colony. The faces of each of the characters show individual personalities and it is easy to identify with Jay, as he does what he wants, looking very “cool.”

The Little Ant Who Was Told You Can’t is a big lesson for youngsters to learn – that listening to good advice is okay, even if it is from little amazing ants. When working together, greater results can be achieved, as exemplified by this creative author and illustrator couple complimenting each other in producing this enjoyable story.