Title: Rosa The Little Ant and the Great Big Elephant
Author: Dainty Nix
Publisher: DaintyNixBooks.com
ISBN: 978-1-962110-48-8
Pages: 27
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewer: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
Rosa is a little ant, living in an ant hill with other ants. Life is good and peaceful, and on one warm, sunny day, Rosa and the other ants wander off to fill their ant-tummies with delicious treats. All of a sudden, their world comes crashing down; their ant hill was destroyed, all because of a big elephant trampling through the area. This event begins the children’s story by author Dainty Nix in this delightful illustrated children’s book, Rosa The Little Ant and the Great Big Elephant.
With this battle lost to the elephant, Rosa was setback but not defeated. Rosa then builds a new ant village with the help of her ant-friends, this time up high in the branches of a sweet and beautiful acacia tree. Rosa shared a close bond with the tree as she fed upon the sweet nectar in the leaves of the acacia tree. Then, one warm September morning, a very hungry elephant suddenly appeared in from of her and began to chomp away at the tree. Rosa screamed at the elephant, “No!” as she fell to the ground. This time Rosa was not going to let the elephant destroy her new ant village, so she mustered up her strength, and organized the other ants, and they all ganged up on the elephant by stinging, itching, scratching and shouting an eerie “Eeerreow!” The elephant went away, and the story ends with Rosa standing on a branch, pumped with energy, and shouted out, “I am Rosa, the ant who stood up to the elephant!”
Children will pick up on this theme of overcoming horrendous odds by challenging a creature way bigger than themselves, but with persistence and teamwork, defeating the threat and winning – in this case, the ant-elephant battle. Dainty Nix employs many examples of onomatopoeia, using creative sounds like, “whoosh, huff!, munch, gnaw, snap, crash!,” and my new favorite, “Pit-a-pat.” These literary techniques when read to youngsters as they view the incredible artistic illustrations brings this book to life – truly encouraging children to visualize not only this fanciful tale, but also the amazing depth a storybook can have.
A wonderful blend of clever wordsmithing along with an abundance of captivating illustrations, Rosa The Little Ant and the Great Big Elephant creates a female-ant-protagonist with a never-give-up attitude to be jostled through the minds of youngsters, in this great bedtime storybook. I hope to see other “adventures” of Rosa by Dainty Nix in future books; but for now, seeing an ant defeat an elephant is a story which can be read over-and-over, being amazed vicariously by Rosa’s steadfastness and commitment, each and every time.
