Why Would I Want To Be An Ant?

By Peter V. Radatti

Large 22-point print, 12 new watercolor illustrations printed in full color.My father told this story to me when I was a child. He explained that his Grandfather told the story to him when he was a child but that the story originally did not contain the ant. My father added the ant. What a critical addition to the story! At some point this story must have been an Italian folktale passed down in our family verbally. I think my father's addition of the ant takes this tale from an interesting story of magic and adventure and adds the moral of not overlooking someone just because they are small; certainly, something a child can identify with.When I rewrote the story, I included concepts that a child can understand but would never think of unless explained. The book contains many life lessons that a parent can explain and activities they can do together such as cooking cabbage rice soup. An example of a life lesson is being poor and happy or being rich and happy is still happy. This gives you, the reader, a chance to explain things to your child, such as happiness comes from inside and not from wealth or outside. It is a way of looking at life. I include concepts like this because I remember them from my own childhood from the perspective of the adult I now am. My family was poor, but the entire town was poor. I didn't miss out on anything that anyone else had and if I did, I didn't know or care. What I did have was a loving family and happiness.I am going to give you a little secret as the story teller. You don't have to follow the story exactly. Modify and embellish it to fit your child's personal experience. Add stories from your own past that fit the narrative. That will make it even more magical.What makes this story especially interesting to me is that its basic form has been passed down for at least five generations in my family and now to your family. I hope you and your children enjoy it as much as we did.This book contains new watercolor artwork never seen before.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1790544149
• ISBN13: 9781790544141
• Release Date: January 2019
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 79 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.2" x 8.5"