We Are the Ants: Open-Ended, Critical, and Aliens

Welcome back to my blog where I will be reviewing books selected from the American Library Association’s weekly planner for July 2023-December 2024. This book is for the Week of September 10-16. Here is the third book being reviewed: We Are the Ants written by Shaun David Hutchison. 

**SPOILERS AHEAD AND SENSITIVE TOPICS***  

This is a mix of a young adult realistic fiction and science fiction novel describing the life of Henry Denton, an average American high school student from the suburbs. He is abducted regularly by alien or “sluggers” as he refers to them. These little creatures take him randomly into their space ship and introduce him into parts of their world. When he returns, he has always been gone for days and ends up barely clothed and thrown near the side of the road. 

The first time he is abducted in the novel, the sluggers present him with a difficult choice. The world will end in the next 144 days, and all he has to do to save the world is press the red button on their space ship. He begins by discussing how people are the same as ants. No matter what we do, we’re going to die eventually, and who knows if we’ll ever make an impact on the world.

The novel takes place as a journal of his from September 2015 through January 2016. His boyfriend Jesse committed suicide in the last year and Henry blames himself for not loving Jesse enough. Henry’s bleak perspective with the ants and the meaningless nature of life is a result of his mindset after losing Jesse.

Henry has a fling with Marcus, a cruel stereotypical high school bully who makes out with Henry in the high school bathroom. Marcus is afraid to admit to people that he is gay and bullies Henry mercilessly to his classmates and peers. People know that Henry is abducted by aliens, but they think it’s something he made up. “Space Boy” is the cruel nickname given to Henry by Marcus and his friend group.

One day Henry is beat up in the locker room by Marcus and his friends and covered in green paint with an alien mask on his head. The photos are posted all over social media and a police investigation develops. Henry doesn’t turn Marcus in even though he was the ring leader of the assault, and this causes conflict between Diego, Henry’s new friend.

Diego arrives late one day into Henry’s science class. The teacher asks Henry, a studious and focused student, to lead Diego, a new student, to the correct classroom. Right away Henry feels drawn to Diego’s flamboyant personality and outfits. He knows that he’s different than the typical guy at their high school. Just as Henry doesn’t like to talk about Jesse, Diego doesn’t like to talk about his past.

The two teenagers find solace in each other and Henry begins to value life, even if not necessarily his but that of others. He becomes determined to press the red button the next time he is abducted because while he still feels extremely alone, he doesn’t want all of his friends and family to miss out on their lives.

The theme of the novel is that it’s ok to not be ok. The mother struggles with her mother having Alzheimers and eventually places her into an assisted living facility, because there’s no more she can do for her and still be able to function. Henry attends inpatient care for a week because he doesn’t know how to live without constantly fixating on Jesse and his missing presence.

This book has been my favorite of the three reviewed so far. The pace moves quickly and although it takes place in a high school setting, I felt as if the experiences of Henry and Diego were relatable to all teens. The book also talks about changing family dynamics with a grandmother with Alzheimers, an older brother who drops out of college, and Henry a kid who feels so alone after losing Jesse. We Are the Ants earns 4.5 out of 5 stars in my opinion. I was quickly hooked into the plot and as someone who doesn’t normally read science fiction I enjoyed that it mixed aliens into a typical young adult high school story.