“We Are the Ants” mirrors loneliness of pandemic

“If you knew the world was going to end, but you had the power to stop it, would you?” 

This is the dilemma that 15-year-old high school student Henry Denton must find his own answer to. The book “We Are the Ants” by Shaun David Hutchinson follows the life of Henry, a boy abducted by aliens (whom he calls sluggers). He is given a 144-day limit on his decision.

Henry faces an ultimatum: should he save the human race from imminent doom? The book is a heart-wrenching, sci-fi, drama story that covers many controversial topics related to younger generations, and the pains that influence their lives.

“We Are the Ants” follows the love, loss, guilt, mental health, and hope of Henry. He was a target of his school for years where “popularity is teenage heroin,” which he lacks. He is brutally harassed for his sexuality, making Henry wish the world would end sooner. He is also bullied for his galactic truth of alien life, which no one seems to believe except for the love of his life, Jesse Franklin who had unexpectedly committed suicide, adding to the difficulty of his decision: Is humanity worthwhile? 

At home, things are not much better. Henry lives with his trainwreck of an older brother, Charlie, his divorced mother who has exhausted herself out of her dreams, and Nana who has Alzheimer’s. But then comes a new hope that helps Henry learn to love again, accept the past, and think of what the future could hold.

This story hit powerfully close to home for me, and probably will for other young adult readers who could empathize with Henry’s pain and feelings of being different. The characters are well written; their in-depth ideas and motives are based around the main idea of knowing the world is ending, not believing it, or living life to the fullest in their time left. 

The fear and hopelessness that the characters feel are especially relatable during the pandemic, where life seems to have stopped yet sped up all at once, changing yet standing still. Feeling alone—yet all being a part of the same life-changing events of reality. 

“We Are the Ants” is worth the read, it pulls you in as a reader and leaves you wondering what will sway Henry’s decision next, and what his final answer will be.

“We may not get to choose how we die, but we can choose how we live. The universe may forget us, but it doesn’t matter. Because we are the ants, and we’ll keep marching on.” We can’t always see the light at the end of our tunnel, but we can try to comprehend the feelings that await us. Will Henry save everyone, or leave them all to perish? That’s for you to find out.