We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) From the author to watch (Kirkus Reviews) of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes a brand-new novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving. Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn't sure he wants to. After all, life hasn't been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer's. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend's suicide last year. Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him. But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it...or let the world-and his pain-be destroyed forever. Editorial Reviews *12/14/2015 Henry Denton's life is in tatters--he was abandoned by his father; his boyfriend, Jesse, hanged himself; and he is regularly abducted by aliens who have put Earth's very fate in his hands. The 16-year-old, nicknamed Space Boy by his tormentors, is self-destructing until he finds a friend in new kid Diego and an ally in Jesse's former pal Audrey. In a style reminiscent of Slaughterhouse-Five, Hutchinson (The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley) intersperses Henry's experience aboard the slugger spaceship with his trials on Earth, where he's a punch line at school, a ghost at home. The extraterrestrial scenes are less the makings of a SF novel than a metaphor for Henry's isolation and alienation from his family and peers, including a gang of bullies who brutally assault him in a shower and then publicly shame him. Hutchinson has crafted an unflinching portrait of the pain and confusion of young love and loss, thoughtfully exploring topics like dementia, abuse, sexuality, and suicide as they entwine with the messy work of growing up. Ages 14-up. Agent: Amy Boggs, Donald Maass Literary Agency. (Jan.) - Publishers Weekly This title will appeal [...] to everyone who believes human beings' insignificance in the broader scale of the universe is reason enough to cherish all of our fellow ants. - School Library Connection Shaun David Hutchinson's bracingly smart and unusual YA novel blends existential despair with exploding planets. - STARRED REVIEW Shelf Awareness [We Are the Ants] 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. A beautiful, masterfully told story by someone who is at the top of his craft. - Lambda Literary 12/01/2016 Gr 9 Up--Henry Denton is abducted by aliens who tell him that by merely pushing a button, he can save Earth from annihilation. What seems like an obvious decision becomes a complicated thought process for a teen who has experienced the worst of humanity--bullying, loss, and grief--and who wonders if oblivion is the answer. This strikingly original work will grip readers and force them to ponder tough questions. - School Library Journal *2015-09-16 Extraterrestrials offer depressed, acerbic Henry Denton the chance to save the Earth from certain destruction by pressing a red button. The stalk-eyed, variably tentacled sluggers' repeated, humiliating abductions and habit of dumping Henry in strange places with minimal clothing make Henry's life tough, but the focus here is less on the aliens and more on the button. Bullied at school, pushed around at home, and reeling from his once-boyfriend's suicide, Henry doesn't think he wants to press it. If you knew the world was going to end but you could prevent it, would you? becomes a sort of refrain throughout, and each character who answers not only reveals his or her own carefully imagined depths, but also sheds light on Henry's existential dilemmas. Whether Henry is hooking up in secret with the popular golden boy who torments him in public, watching his beloved Nana lose her memories, or being physically and verbally assaulted at school, at parties, and online, he maintains a biting, vulgar wit. There is both a budding romance and, via Henry's older brother, a baby on the way, but the novel meticulously avoids easy fixes for Henry's nihilism. Instead, his journey is subtle and hard-won, with meditations on the past, the present, and the future that are equal parts sarcastic and profound. Bitterly funny, with a ray of hope amid bleakness. (Fiction. 14-18) - Kirkus Reviews 2016 Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year A 2017 ALA Top Ten Rainbow List Title A beautiful, masterfully told story by someone who is at the top of his craft. -Lambda Literary Unfailingly dramatic and crackling with characters who become real upon the page. -Booklist, starred review Bitterly funny, with a ray of hope amid bleakness. -Kirkus Reviews, starred review Hints of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five... Highly recommended. -School Library Journal, starred review Hutchinson has crafted an unflinching portrait of the pain and confusion of young love and loss. -Publishers Weekly, starred review Wonderfully written... bracingly smart and unusual. -Shelf Awareness, starred review - From the Publisher Hutchinson's excellent novel of ideas invites readers to wonder about their place in a world that often seems uncaring and meaningless. The novel is never didactic; on the contrary, it is unfailingly dramatic and crackling with characters who become real upon the page. Will Henry press the button? We all await his decision. - STARRED REVIEW Booklist Henry has been tasked by aliens to determine if humans deserve to live, but Henry is a teenager who is trying to deal with the suicide of his last boyfriend, the passive-aggressive abuse of his current romance, and a budding relationship with a new classmate. The rest of his life is falling apart as well, so he's doubtful that humans deserve any future. Narrator Gibson Frazier's youthful projection captures this first-person story well. He delivers tonal shifts that reflect Henry's emotions as the story progresses and produces realistic voices for the other characters. He also captures Henry's wry humor as he contemplates what it means to control the fate of the world. L.E. AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine - JULY 2016 - AudioFile Henry has been tasked by aliens to determine if humans deserve to live, but Henry is a teenager who is trying to deal with the suicide of his last boyfriend, the passive-aggressive abuse of his current romance, and a budding relationship with a new classmate. The rest of his life is falling apart as well, so he's doubtful that humans deserve any future. Narrator Gibson Frazier's youthful projection captures this first-person story well. He delivers tonal shifts that reflect Henry's emotions as the story progresses and produces realistic voices for the other characters. He also captures Henry's wry humor as he contemplates what it means to control the fate of the world. L.E. AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine - JULY 2016 - AudioFile