we are the ants by shaun david hutchinson

In 2022, We Are the Ants was listed among 52 books banned by the Alpine School District following the implementation of Utah law H.B. On November 4, 2021, the Keller Independent School District in Keller, Texas unanimously decided to the book would only be available in the high school. Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction The book is also a Junior Library Guild selection. We Are the Ants has been named on multiple 'best of' lists, including Time's continuously updated '100 Best YA Books of All Time,' as well as School Library Journal's and Shelf Awareness's lists of the best books of the year.

The Horn Book Magazine provided a mixed review that complimented the character development but called the plot 'lagging' and 'issue-laden.' Lambda Literary called the book 'a beautiful, masterfully told story by someone who is at the top of his craft,' and VOYA noted, 'The voices of each character are strong and unique.' VOYA said the novel tells 'a very complex story about serious subjects.' Lambda Literary expanded on the idea, saying it 'is a book about more than love and loss it’s about struggling to find motivation and not taking the people in your life for granted.” Both complimented Hutchinson's writing.

The Lambda Literary Foundation and Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) also praised the book for its thematic contents. The novel is never didactic on the contrary, it is unfailingly dramatic and crackling with characters who become real upon the page.' Booklist further explained, 'Hutchinson’s excellent novel of ideas invites readers to wonder about their place in a world that often seems uncaring and meaningless. Kirkus called the book 'itterly funny, with a ray of hope amid bleakness.' Shelf Awareness echoed the sentiment, calling the novel 'bracingly smart and unusual.' As if explaining the book's unusualness, School Library Journal compared the storyline and writing style to Nick Burd’s The Vast Fields of Ordinary and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five.

The book was generally well-received by critics, including starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness. However, he's not sure Earth is worth saving until he meets Diego, an artist with a troubled past. Henry is abducted by aliens and has 144 days to decide whether to push a button that will save the Earth from alien destruction. The book follows Henry, whose boyfriend recently committed suicide. We Are the Ants is a young adult science fiction novel by Shaun David Hutchinson, published Januby Simon Pulse with a 24-page companion story, “What We Pretend to Be”, published on the publisher's website, Riveted, later that year.

We are the ants by shaun david hutchinson