posted on 08 Sep 2018

Anty Hero by Barry Hutchinson

Here are some statistics that will boggle your brain:

• There are more than 900 thousand different types of insect that are known to exist.
• 80% of the different species alive on the Earth are insects.
• Estimates suggest that there are 200 million insects for every human
• It is estimated that there are some 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive.

Pretty amazing, eh? How much more amazing would it be if you found out that your new best friend is the first human/insect hybrid? Mind-blowing, I’d say.

Well, that’s exactly what happens to Zac in Barry Hutchinson’s first book for Barrington Stoke’s ‘super readable’ series. Zac isn’t exactly the most popular boy in school but when Ant turns up he discovers not only that he’s no longer the least popular but that he’s now got a friend - though he’s a pretty unusual friend it has to be said. He’s dirty, scruffy and always wears big green-tinted sunglasses – he’s even been seen with a cockroach crawling around in his hair.

But when, during a earth-sciences lesson, Ant gets knocked over by the class bully and his glasses fly off, Zac and Tulisa, the girl who has been teamed-up to work with them, both spot something incredible. Ant has the eyes of an insect!

Unfortunately, someone else has seen Ant’s incredible eyes – Mr Dawkin, the science teacher. And, it turns out, he has a plan in mind for some experiments and investigations that won’t be good for Ant’s wellbeing. Zac and Tulisa watch as two thugs kidnap Ant and take him off to Mr Dawkins’ laboratory.

Can anyone help Ant survive? Are Zac and Tulisa on their own or will they find any help from Ant’s insect community? Well - I’m not telling – get your own copy!

This is an enjoyable and humorous little tale that will appeal to younger readers and there’s plenty of educational information about insects that has been smuggled into the story so it doesn’t feel like another school lesson.

The illustrations have been done by Tom Percival and his full page, black and white drawings help to bring the story alive – I especially liked the (quite scary) drawing of Ant strapped to Mr Dawkins’ gurney.

The book was released this August and if you’d like to get your hands on a copy try going to the Barrington Stoke website to place your order.

Terry Potter

September 2018