Book Descriptions
for City of Leafcutter Ants by Amy Hevron
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Beneath a Central American rainforest there exists a bustling, thriving city of eight million. Leafcutter ants, that is. They’re sisters, all of whom come from the same queen, the colony’s founder. Though all are female, the ants are differentiated by their physical traits and specialties. Each plays her role in the city’s functioning, whether it be caring for the queen and her larvae, assisting in the decomposition of waste, cleaning leaf cuttings, producing antibiotics, digging tunnels, defending the colony, or foraging for leaves. The leaves are carried, in pieces, back to the colony, where they are chewed into a paste that feeds a garden of fungus: the ants’ food source. When a new queen is grown, she will take some of this fungus on her own mating flight and use it to start her own city. The “city” metaphor is used to great effect, making the details of the ants’ jobs and society familiar and accessible to young readers. The ants in the lively illustrations are busy and focused. Backmatter provides more information about leafcutter ant societies and jobs. (Ages 4-8)
CCBC Book of the Week. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2024. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
Tunnel under the rainforest floor into the bustling metropolis of the leafcutter ants, each with a different job to do.
Leafcutter ants are masters at building and running their city. With a population to rival NYC, they employ builders, farmers, nannies, cleaners, and even pharmacists! Brave foragers venture into the trees to bring back slices of leaf to keep the fungus crops growing, while those at home expand the city’s tunnel network and tend to the young—and the queen, the city’s founder.
Whether already fascinated by bugs or just discovering them, young readers will be captivated by Amy Hevron’s colorful, inviting illustrations and accessible language. The City of Leafcutter Ants is both informative and fun, robustly researched and approachable, with backmatter for further learning. In walking us through this sprawling ant society, Hevron reminds us that as different as we may feel from a tiny six-legged insect, humans are neither the only nor the first creatures of Earth to organize ourselves into ingenious collective living.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Leafcutter ants are masters at building and running their city. With a population to rival NYC, they employ builders, farmers, nannies, cleaners, and even pharmacists! Brave foragers venture into the trees to bring back slices of leaf to keep the fungus crops growing, while those at home expand the city’s tunnel network and tend to the young—and the queen, the city’s founder.
Whether already fascinated by bugs or just discovering them, young readers will be captivated by Amy Hevron’s colorful, inviting illustrations and accessible language. The City of Leafcutter Ants is both informative and fun, robustly researched and approachable, with backmatter for further learning. In walking us through this sprawling ant society, Hevron reminds us that as different as we may feel from a tiny six-legged insect, humans are neither the only nor the first creatures of Earth to organize ourselves into ingenious collective living.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.
