This collection of three stories of our reluctant hero, Anthony Ant, contains adventures aplenty and lessons abundant. While the two main activities in the typical ant's life are to gather food and then eat it, Anthony is only gifted in the latter one. Yet, as the stories progress, he tends to grow as all characters do, and by the third story, his interest lies beyond food - far beyond. In all three stories the verse is embedded in prose form and sort of sneaks up on the younger readers. Then youngsters and older readers alike come to expect the cadence along with the ample action richly installed in all three works. The author has inserted many learning situations for the attuned teacher and parent, and the typical young listener will relish any of the stories being repeated. This set of three complete books offers a unique treatment of language and imagery. The illustrations in black and white fit the ant world with delightful design. Mary Coons draws with a magic pen for all three works. The owners of this power-packed trilogy will treasure it and make it part of their permanent book batch. There's an Ant in Anthology Three Stories Starring Anthony Ant By Richard L. Stein, Mary E. Coons AuthorHouse Copyright © 2016 Richard L. Stein All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4772-6476-8 CHAPTER 1 Anthony Ant Late for Lunch To Wilma for awakening Anthony Special thanks to Rachel Barber, Tom Watts, and my wonderful wife, Mary The Ant Family Meet the Ant family, a numerous bunch. Listen and chuckle while they eat their lunch. They are -- Rupert and Rachel and Sally and Buck, Caroline, Catherine, Timothy, Chuck -- All chomping and gnawing away at their greens, mixed ever so slightly with toy soy beans. Maxine and Merle start tossing their rye and wouldn't you know? They hit Dad in the eye. Father takes only the time to growl low at them. Then he blinks once, winks once, and starts eating again. Charlene and Charlotte (the terrible pair) stack mashed potatoes in each other's hair. Mother Ant tries to calm everyone down. "Oh, my dear children, there's 'nuff to go 'round. But Randolph and Ralphie each make a face and gnaw on their beets at a terrible pace. But far and away the biggest mess yet is gleefully made by George and Georgette. They mix honey and gravy with grapes and some greens and smear the new goo over fresh lima beans. "My, my, my," mutters Mother. "Can't we all eat without hurting each other?" "Norf Froblem," garbles baby Eugene. "I'm just licking my dinner plate clean." I'm clean. Finally, Mother begins clearing the table but spills half the salad on Joey and Mabel. "Oh dear," she exclaims, almost ready to cry. "I don't know if it's worth serving the pie." "Hey! Pie is my favorite, a delicious dessert," is screamed above others by the biggest ant, Bert. Then follows some final dinnertime sounds as brothers and sisters finish old coffee grounds. The family is careful to leave nothing for scraps; they even eat napkins they have on their laps: But this isn't strange for a family of ants. In fact, it's their job to leave nothing to chance. Thus, at the end of lunchtime this day, Mother has no scraps to be put away. There is lip smacking and burping and belching galore, the ants' way of saying they couldn't hold more. "So," sighs their mother, "have you eaten enough?" "Yes!" They all screamed. "That was really good stuff!" "Well get out of the kitchen," they hear Mother Ant squeal "and begin gathering food for tomorrow's first meal." They obey Mother Ant without rave, without rant, but one son is missing--Anthony Ant. Anthony Ant had missed dinner before, but not because his family was poor. He seemed to lack a sincere sense of gratitude. Anthony Ant had a really bad attitude. BUT ... he loved his family and was basically good: he just didn't work like he knew an ant should. Most ants are designed for two things to do: gather the food and gobble it, too. Anthony wasn't good at collecting his lunch, but in cramming it down, was the best of the bunch. He wasn't born first. He wasn't born little. He wasn't born last, But somewhere in the middle. He was built like most ants, With the three basic parts. And he sure wasn't dumb. He had all his smarts. He wasn't spoiled by Mom or by Dad. Until he grew older, he hadn't been bad. While his sisters and brothers were gathering food, Anthony was usually in a bad mood. Almost each day he'd come home much later, and while everyone slept, raid the refrigerator. Well, this night Anthony tried his usual style. He crept to the fridge half-hiding a smile. But 'stead of some turkey or pot roast or stuffing, there was only a light bulb, which shone out on nothing. Behind him stalked Mother who spoke sternly to him. "Anthony Ant! Where have you been?" Anthony spouted, "I've been out with the guys. Where's all the food? I'm down half a size." "The food's all been eaten; there's none on the shelf. If you want any grub, find it yourself." "But Mom," whined h