Sam with Ants in His Pants

by April Reynolds (Author) Katie Kordesh (Illustrator)

Sam with Ants in His Pants
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

This ferociously fun read-aloud--perfect for bedtime or anytime--begins with a can't-settle-down boy who spends his naptime with wild animals that have leapt off the pages of his favorite book, and ends with a sleepy boy all played out!

Sam is not ready for naptime. Momma says he has ants in his pants and that he must calm down, but Sam says "NOOOOOO!" and flies off to his bedroom. He flips open his favorite book--African Wildlife--and out jumps a herd of gazelles...followed by a pride of lions...and then a zeal of zebras. And that's just the beginning! How can Sam ever be expected to take a nap?! Amidst all the jumping and stalking and striding and prowling comes a sound louder than any other-- GRROOWWL! It's Sam's tummy, and it scares those ants right out of his pants. It must be time for a snack. But after such a wild day, how can Sam ever be expected to stay awake?!

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Publishers Weekly

Just before nap time one afternoon, Sam bounces around his Black-presenting family's kitchen before being sent to bed. Shutting his bedroom door tight, Sam opens African Wildlife, his favorite book. But like the famous protagonist of Where the Wild Things Are, Sam finds his read even more boisterous than his mood. When out of the pages spring a whole menagerie of savanna inhabitants, Reynolds gives each one a crowd-pleasing sound effect: a troop of baboons who "smacked their lips and narrowed their eyes and kept their ears back" says "Hoo! Hoo!" As fantasies go, the events are a mixed blessing. Sam gets to dance with a leap of leopards, but the crash of rhinos slobber on his sneakers; in one comically choreographed ink and watercolor image by Kordesh, Sam's head barely emerges from what looks like an ongoing stampede. The animals finally clear the room when they hear Sam's growling tummy, and the sleepy but unapologetic boy heads downstairs and promptly falls asleep at the dinner table, clutching an armful of animal stuffies. Wild animal aficionados should find enough to keep them purring in this double debut about a wild adventure come home. Ages 4-8. (June)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes




April Reynolds
April Reynolds is the author of Knee-Deep in Wonder, which won the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Award and the PEN/Open Book Beyond Margins Award. April has taught at New York University, the 92nd Street Y, and currently teaches creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Her second book is The Shape of Dreams and is forthcoming from Knopf. Sam with Ants in His Pants is her debut children's book.

Katie Kordesh is an award-winning illustrator who currently works as a social media illustrator for the NFL. In 2019, she received an Emmy for Outstanding Trans-Media Sports Coverage as an associate producer on the NFL 100 Campaign. Katie also works as a freelance illustrator for the Seattle Seahawks. Sam with Ants in His Pants is her debut picture book.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593564608
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Anne Schwartz Books
Publication date
June 20, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV051000 - Juvenile Fiction | Imagination & Play
JUV002150 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Lions, Tigers, Leopards, etc.
Library of Congress categories
Behavior
Picture books
Conduct of life
Naps (Sleep)

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