''Two Bad Ants'' is a 1988

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

written and illustrated by American author

Chris Van Allsburg Chris Van Allsburg (born June 18, 1949) is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He has won two Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, for ''Jumanji'' (1981) and '' The Polar Express'' (1985), both of which he al ...

Plot summary

The title characters, while journeying through a human home, decide to exploit a

sugar bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

—full of

sugar cube Sugar cubes are white sugar granules pressed into small cubes measuring approximately 1 teaspoon each. They are usually used for sweetening drinks such as tea and coffee. They were invented in the early 19th century in response to the difficulti ...

s—on their own rather than taking one sugar cube for themselves like the colony's queen (so each of the ants get one sugar cube and so does the queen ant). The two ants decide that instead of taking one sugar cube for themselves (like the other ants) and leave for their ant hill, they will live in the sugar bowl forever and "eat the tasty treasure forever". But during daylight, the ants are shoveled up by a giant sugar bowl spoon. They experience misadventures: they land in a cup of coffee (after a giant spoon shovels up the sugar cubes into the

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and gets the ants out), almost get toasted on an

English muffin An English muffin is a small, round and flat yeast-leavened (sometimes sourdough) bread which is commonly round and tall. It is generally split horizontally and served Toast (food), toasted.David, Elizabeth (1977). ''English Bread and Yeast Co ...

(after mistaking it for a giant disc—a "hiding place disc"—with holes), fall into a sink, get threatened by its

garbage disposal unit A garbage disposal unit (also known as a waste disposal unit, food waste disposer (FWD), in-sink macerator, garbage disposer, or garburator) is a device, usually electrically powered, installed under a kitchen sink between the sink's drain a ...

, and are nearly electrocuted when they enter an electric outlet. Chastened, they rejoin a line of ants carrying sugar cubes back to the colony.

Interpretations

Philip Nel Philip W. Nel (born March 29, 1969) is an American scholar of children's literature and University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University. He is best known for his work on Dr. Seuss and ''Harry Potter'', which has led to h ...

's analysis, a conflict between the book's plot and its illustrations leads to artistic tension. While the ants' return to the colony suggests "a victory for the bosses" and the narrative could be considered a "

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whe ...

", the comparatively huge appliances in the kitchen, which terrify the ants, imply

conspicuous consumption In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen c ...

. Nel likens the book's resulting ambiguity to the works of Magritte.

References

CHILDREN'S BOOKS; FELONS IN THE SUGAR BOWL
Sanford Schwartz,

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, November 13, 1988. Retrieved June 17, 2010

Footnotes

External links

Houghton-Mifflin Books - ''Two Bad Ants''
1988 children's books American picture books Fictional ants Houghton Mifflin books Picture books by Chris Van Allsburg Animal tales Children's books about insects {{Child-book-stub