17. Everybody Sees the Ants, by A.S. King

 

King, A.S.  (2011).  Everybody sees the ants. NY: Little, Brown and Company.

 The main character is fifteen-year-old Lucky Linderman.  He struggles to cope with a bully named Nader McMillan and the strange and unhealthy behaviors he sees in his own family.

  He has been ruthlessly bullied, both physically and emotionally, by Nader McMillan for years, and it has taken a toll on his perception of himself and his hopes for the future. His school is concerned because he chose to do his social studies research project on teen suicide, and they are keeping tabs on him to make sure he's not at-risk. Lucky is also angry at his parents, whom he sees as cold and distant; he is particularly annoyed at his mother, Lori, for her denial about the problems in their family.

Lucky copes with his situation by escaping into dreams of Vietnam, where his obsession with his POW/MIA grandfather comes to life. In the dreams, he meets and befriends his grandfather, lost decades ago in the Vietnam War, and tries to bring him to safety to fulfill a promise to his grandmother. The dreams are vivid and have a supernatural element because when he wakes up, he has some token he brings back with him.

Another escape comes when Lori brings Lucky to her brother Dave's house in Arizona. He finds some solace there – Dave teaches Lucky how to lift weights, giving him advice about how to cope with a bully, and he begins to grow closer to his mother during the three weeks they spend with his aunt and uncle. Also, recognizing the ways that pain can shape behavior, Lucky begins to forgive his Aunt Jodi, who abuses prescription medication, because he sees that she is struggling with her knowledge that her husband is having multiple affairs.

In Arizona, Lucky also meets Ginny, his first love and first kiss, whose parents are using her by forcing her to model haircare products. Ginny feels similarly trapped in her own family life; Lucky becomes her only solace when she shaves her head in rebellion, and her mother beats her for her disobedience. The two teenagers’ bond over their shared traumas, finding hope in each other.

Back in his hometown in Pennsylvania, Nader constant bullying begins to draw attention.  Several people file  complaints at the community swimming pool where Nader works, getting him fired. Lucky uses the strength he learned from his mother and his uncle Dave, and stands up to Nader as well, threatening to call the police if Nader ever comes near him again.

Having overcome much of his self-doubt, Lucky discovers that he has the strength to face the challenges in his life, finding similar resolutions in his dreams about Vietnam. At the end of the novel, Lucky's adventure with his grandfather comes to an end. Lucky buries his grandfather, who has been mortally wounded, and in the last moments of his grandfather's life, he is given a wedding ring, which his grandfather asks him to give to his father, Vic. Lucky wakes up with the wedding ring clutched in his hand and begins to tell his family the story of his dreams and of his lost grandfather.

 One of the main themes of this novel is bullying and suicide.  I know these are usually separate, but with today’s youth, it goes hand in hand.  Kids are tormented by bullies, and they just take it.  It builds and builds, and the emotional and physical trauma becomes too much, and they want it to stop.  At the end of the novel after the whole banana story is revealed, Lucky said he came home and wanted to kill himself, the gun being unloaded is what stopped him.  A few years ago, this happened in my community.  My girls knew the boy.  He was being bullied and ended up committing suicide.  It is a real problem.

There is a lot of symbolism in the book.  The ants symbolize the doubts and negatives that go through the minds of every single person in life.  They are almost like the euphemism of  the angel and devil on your shoulders. Lucky’s scab represents the mental scab that can be inflicted with bullying. 

I couldn’t find any good teaching resources.  This link is to the author’s web site.

https://www.as-king.com/