Reviews for My Brother, Ant (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

The average rating for My Brother, Ant (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-09-13 00:00:00 Mark West My Brother, Ant by Betsy Byars and illustrated by Marc Simont is an easy reader book, which includes four different stories about an older brother and his younger brother, Ant. It is a level three reading book for ages 6-9, with short sentences and vocabulary (e.g. homework is repeated eight times within seven pages) or repetition of words (e.g. "I did not" or "He did not"). A read aloud of pages 14-17 of "Ant and the Spider" is best as it ends at where the older brother thinks Ant is lying and Ant is following him to explain himself. This is where kids can be asked to predict what they think Ant is trying to tell his older brother. Is Ant going to confess to his brother? Or did someone else do it? For "The Monster Under Ant's Bed" on pages 5-9, this can be read aloud, ending at the page in which Ant's older brother decides to look for the monster under his bed. Here, kids can guess how the brother will try to get rid of the monster. The book does a good job showing the relationship between brothers, which involves helping and fighting with each other. This is realistic to the love/hate relationship siblings experience with one another. Kids can be asked to write about their personal sibling relationship or if they have no siblings, how that has made their life different from what the boys experienced in the book. Pictures are painted in light colors and reflect the information that is being addressed in the text. This helps readers to better understand what the words mean. An example of this would be the section titled "Ant and the Three Little Pigs" where the older brother reads about figs in a book, but Ant says they are pigs. Hence, what is shown in the book is a picture of a pig and fig combined together. I particularly enjoy some of the humor in the book's drawings, mostly the one in "Love, Ant" where Ant requests his brother to help him write a letter to Santa in July. The drawings show Santa reading a letter out in the sun as he is laying out on a lawn seat in his boxers and a wife beater. Another good aspect of this book is the realistic scenarios portrayed through a child's view, such as worrying about monster's under the bed at night or having to write a letter to Santa Claus. Students can be asked to write about whether they had experienced problems with monsters before or if they had other fears similar to it, such as being scared of ghosts.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-07-18 00:00:00 Carly Wurzhuber An early reader that rather beautifully captures the sometimes trying relationship between two brothers.