Ant and Watermelon

Author: Yutaka Tamura
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: On a hot summer afternoon, ants discover a large piece of watermelon. "It's so delicious, let's carry it home quickly." Several ants try to move it together, but it doesn't budge. They call over more ants to help, but still nothing. One ant has a great idea. Ants and Watermelon is a highly entertaining picture book. Its comic-like exaggeration and simple lines give the book a light, humorous feel from start to finish. It tells the story of how a group of ants splits, carries, and brings back a watermelon left by picnic-goers, and finally uses the rind to make a slide. The book has very little text, but in it, every ant's expression, movement, and interaction with others is different. You can completely tell a very, very long and very, very fun story just by looking at these illustrations. The most captivating illustration for me is the author's depiction of the underground ant nest, which is rendered with meticulous detail like a folk painting of urban life. The best part is that each room in the nest has a sign, handwritten in cursive: "Candy," "Biscuits," "Cheese," "Mushroom Growing Room," "Treasures," "Under Construction."
Ants are hardworking, clever, flexible, and cooperative creatures. They can also be seen as symbols of children who are weak in society. There are always similarities between ants and children. To little ants, a watermelon is both enormous and irresistible! To bring the delicious watermelon home, the ants work together to fill their nest, enjoy a hearty meal, and finally play on the watermelon like a slide. Ants are cute little animals and symbols of children who are vulnerable in life. There are always similarities between ants and children. A group of small ants and a large watermelon create a strong contrast, with a simple yet interesting story—a careful and thoughtful design by the author. Children will surely immerse themselves in this simple joy while also being inspired by the ants' diligence, optimism, cleverness, and spirit of cooperation.
This work uses spot color printing and woodcut-style printing, with bright colors and adorable shapes. It is suitable for shared reading with parents for children aged 2 and above, and for independent reading for children aged 4 and above. This is the debut work of Japanese picture book master Yutaka Tamura and also the one that established the style of his future works.
Ziqi's Ant Obsession (Ziqi Mom · July 2006)
The last time I saw Ants and Watermelon was about half a year ago. Flipping to the title page, Ziqi said there was a family having a picnic with a picnic basket, watermelon, and drinks on the ground. On the second page, it's a spread with text: "On a very hot summer afternoon, ants discovered a watermelon." In the lower right corner, there's a small illustration of a family's (two big and two small) at a picnic. Ziqi said, "It's the watermelon left over from their picnic." The next page shows four ants eating the watermelon, each with a different eating expression—two are licking their tongues. The page after that has four illustrations on both sides, all showing a corner of the watermelon, with ants pushing it. The first illustration shows one ant pushing, the second shows two, the fourth shows four, and the third—I initially thought there were three but was immediately corrected by Ziqi: "No, there are four! Look, there are four heads." In this book, his favorite illustration is the ant nest. He keeps looking back at each room. In short, this book is very engaging, and he often takes it out to examine the details. Since then, whenever he accidentally drops food on the ground, he no longer insists on picking it up to eat like he used to, but instead says, "Let's leave it for the ants." He also notices that people shouldn't step on ants and doesn't like other kids doing so—he's become much more caring toward ants. Yesterday, while at the bookstore, I saw Happy Math Stories, and one of the books was Ants in a Row. He immediately asked me to read it to him, and I read it to him three times. I didn't expect it to be so loved by the child.
Huayan · January 2006
The reason I bought this book was to help my 17-month-old son recognize sizes. After getting it, I wondered if he'd like it. From an adult's perspective, the illustrations aren't particularly beautiful. But to my surprise, the moment he saw it, he was drawn in and kept asking me to read it—a first for him. For the first time, he read the entire book through with me, which was truly astonishing. Even more surprising was that later that day, the next day, the moment he saw me, he grabbed the book and asked me to read it again, even pretending to grab a handful from the watermelon and eat it playfully. I don't know why he likes it—maybe because he loves watermelon, or maybe because he's never seen ants before, or maybe because of the exaggerated and humorous illustrations. In any case, the child likes it, and that's all the reason needed.
To ants, a watermelon is both enormous and irresistible! To bring the delicious watermelon home, the ants work together to fill their nest, enjoy a hearty meal, and finally play on the watermelon like a slide. Ants are cute little animals and symbols of children who are vulnerable in life. There are always similarities between ants and children. A group of small ants and a large watermelon create a strong contrast, with a simple yet interesting story—a careful and thoughtful design by the author. Children will surely immerse themselves in this simple joy while also being inspired by the ants' diligence, optimism, cleverness, and spirit of cooperation.