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The Ant and the Grasshopper


The Ant and the Grasshopper
by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley
Roaring Book Press, 2012.  Unpaged.  Picture Book.

     The Emberley's father and daughter team turn Aesop's fable of the lazy grasshopper on its head when a hot and dispirited ant who is trying to drag a big stick piece of watermelon back to his anthill is energized by the grasshopper and his "buggy band" movin' and groovin' in the tall grass.  The ant thinks she can make it home now, but wonders what she might do to repay the grasshopper's kindness. "Laissez les bon temps rouler!" cries the grasshopper, working his New Orleans vibe--"Let the good times roll," and roll they do as the grasshopper and his mates ("all abuzz") boogey down underground for a nice cool party at ant's house. The Emberleys' trademark retina-burner colors and turbine-sized eyeballs should attract even the youngest child to this sparkling fable of how art and effort help each other and are both as needful as the sun in the sky.

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