Can you believe that the 20th-Anniversary edition is already out? Phillip and Hannah Hoose created a great book to talk about bullying and the Golden Rule when they wrote Hey, Little Ant. The boy in the story decides to squish the ant because it is so small, it is a game his friends play, ants steal food from humans, etc. He has plenty of reasons to list, including "ants can't feel." How many times has that been used as an excuse for mistreatment of someone or some group? If they are different from us, then they must not feel things the way we do. But the ant has reasons not to be squished, including - "you are a giant and giants can't know how it feels to be an ant."
Picked as a Reading Rainbow book, this is a story that helps showcase the need for empathy. If the roles were reversed, would you want someone to squish you? And it is easy to put another verb in place of squish, perhaps hit, push, call names, etc. The use of books to help deal with emotions and difficult situations has been well-known for a long time, but this could be a poster child for bibliotherapy.
Highly recommended for parents and teachers of elementary age children, whether they are dealing with bullying and empathy issues or simply enjoy a good story.
*Update 08/01/2016 We have added this book to the Fairview library.
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