Tales of Freedom, Tolerance, and Inclusion for Young Children
Fundraising for a cause
Little Red Ant Books are available directly through the author at a reduced cost for fundraising for your group. Donations are also considered for groups promoting the Little Red Ant cause. Send an email directly to antiline1977@gmail.com with the title FUNDRAISING and please outline your purpose for the request.
Events
Recent Meet and Greets
A Glowing Review of Our Books
First and foremost, I love the history and family connection of immigration in these books. This is a great introduction to the topic, as well as to the important Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work schools are so focused on now. With ants as the main character, not only does it give you a non-human element for kids to relate to, but also a great subject for your play on words, embedded throughout the series.
Book 1:Antiline's Brave Adventure:
The illustrations are beautiful and detailed, which mesmerized our primary aged readers. They kept finding more and more details that related to the story- so nice compliment to the writing! We had a deep discussion about their own families and if they knew if their parents or grandparents had immigrated to America, which indeed they did. Many of our students are Asian and have first-hand experience with their family moving, or relatives still back home. I appreciated all of the dialogue as well as the rhyming of certain phrases.
Antiline shows perseverance by not giving up when she reached the pond- a character trait we teach all of our students, which resonated and exemplified where the story was in the plot structure, (rising action à climax). Also- great play on words metaphorically as she, “crossed the pond.” Even when she reached the other side, there were still unfamiliar aspects as in any new country or place. This is all VERY relatable to 2nd graders especially.
Nice touch with the Did You Know section too! It helps provide some connection in case they were reading it independently.The story is timeless, and the theme of freedom and perseverance transcend time and space. This is a wonderful book for elementary aged students!
Book 2: Antiline's True Discovery:
Great way to begin with the Maya Angelou quote on diversity. Beautiful! I also really liked that there is curiosity about where one comes from and a desire to connect with heritage. Similar to book 1, there are playful plays on words to exemplify famous “courageous characters” from history. It also encouraged one to do research, refer to books for more information, seek out answers in known experts, but also provides a clear message that it doesn’t matter where you came from, “No one should care, we all come from somewhere.”
Additionally the plot develops into a tone of hope and the future- that anything is possible. The sense of community that emerges is touching as the colony comes together to share their stories and bring connection and appreciation for differences.
Book 3: Antiline's Community Circle:
Another great Maya Angelou quote to promote diversity among friendships. This would be a great series to market under DEI! (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). This is a very hot topic and educators everywhere are searching for more titles that promote diversity (like yours). All in all, this book would be a great resource for teachers to share as they transition from teaching narratives to informational books (we do this in our 1st grade writer’s workshop- and I’m recommending all of my teachers use this in their mini lessons when it comes to introducing the informational unit). Not only do you have clearly labeled steps, with fonts in bold, you also provide interactive games to play! This is a great resource for promoting leadership among students and having them guide social circles. To me, this is also a wonderful encouragement for students to be change-agents. They have the power to make change in their community, and once they know the steps and how to make it happen (which you outline so well in “kid language”), the rest is up to them. I can even see this being used in summer camps, or at slumber parties with parents facilitating too! Finally, the coloring pages at the end create a welcoming opportunity, in case someone is uncomfortable at first, they can be coloring while also participating in the games or activities. Inclusivity at it’s finest!
Thank you so much for sending me these three books Fern. I very much enjoyed them and will be utilizing them at school. We have our author visits established in the Library for the year already, but I will share with faculty that they might be able to reach out to you and schedule a Zoom session with their class in the future.
Thank you for your incredible work and sharing these important stories and meaningful messages.
Jessica Butterfield, January 2023
Director of Curriculum and Instruction
High Point Academy
(626) 798-8989
Meet the author at Tatnuck Bookseller August 2021
Little Red Ant Books are now available for purchase at the store.
Meet the author Tatnuck Bookseller in February 2020
Storytime and activities Boylston Public Library Oct 2019
Meet the Author Tidepool Bookshop summer 2022
Sue Fleishman 2019 presentation at Brookdale Senior Living, Attleboro MA
Activities
Sue Fleishman presenting art ideas at the Creative Workshop at Tidepool Bookshop.
For more information on our interactive workshops on how to help kids create their own picture book please go to...
New: Children’s Creative Workshops Now available online or in person.
AuthorArtist Fern Nissim demonstrates ideas to help kids create their own story books at Tidepool Bookshop in October 2022
Now Children Can Create their Very Own Picture Books
Little Red Ant Books is pleased to offer workshops for kids 7-11 years old. The program is presented live or by Zoom by authors/illustrators Fern Nissim and Sue Fleishman, publishers of the Little Red Ant Books series. (www.littleredantbooks.com)
Kids will learn how to develop their main character and storyline in the first session. On the second one, they will have a chance to learn the concept of sketching and storyboarding their ideas into an actual book format.
“We are so excited to present these workshops to children,” said Fern Nissim. “Our hope is that this will be an introduction to picture book development and creation for our future authors.”
Children need not have a concept or story in mind to attend. The intent is to motivate them to start the creative process in thinking and drawing their own book.
(Class sizes are limited and a reservation is required for each class)
About the presenters:
Fern Davis Nissim
Sue Fleishman
To request more information please click contact.
See what the owner of the bookshop says about the Creative Workshop
Artist Sue Fleishman presents ideas on moving characters through the story at Tidepool Bookshop
“The two-session workshop on Creating a Picture Book that Fern Nissim, author of the Antiline series, held at our bookstore was fabulous! With the aid of her simple yet effective storyboard technique, during the first 1½ hour class the group of 7-11 year-olds developed their story-lines and main characters, and went home with an outline. When they gathered again the following week, artist Sue Fleishman, co-illustrator of Fern’s Antiline books, came as well, and the children learned how to make their characters move through their story with consistency, expression, and gestures. At the end of the workshop, each child went home with a finished book, and each was beaming … and proud. What struck me most about the workshop was that the children worked on their books at home between the first and second sessions. Fern had not assigned them to do any additional work, but the kids had been so inspired during the first session that they continued writing at home. One parent said his son sat right down to work on his story as soon as he got home from the first Saturday morning session, and he kept at it every free minute throughout the week. Pretty awesome!”
Joe Truesdell, owner Tidepool Bookshop, Worcester MA,
www.tidepoolbookshop.com
Storytime Videos
Enjoy these stories read by Author Fern Nissim
Brought to you by
https://drjoanette.com/for-kids/
HartsLight Kids™ READ ALOUD STORYTIME with Ms. Fern Nissim "Antiline's Brave Adventure"
HartsLight Kids™ READ ALOUD STORYTIME with Ms. Fern Nissim "Antiline's True Discovery"
HartsLight Kids™ READ ALOUD STORYTIME with Ms. Fern Nissim "Antiline's Community Circle"
A Peek of Upcoming Activities and Events
School activities at Inner City School in Boston
A class of first grade students at the William Monroe Trotta k-6 school in Dorchester MA are creating their own paper puppets and plays to demonstrate the journey of Antiline from the first book, Antiline’s Brave Adventure. They are each writing their own story with songs and poems. Once they complete their research, they will make a separate puppet that represents who they are and write a new story telling Antiline about their “True Discovery.” as she did in the second book in the series.
“The students think these books are pretty amazing and absolutely love them!!”
Quote from teacher/drama specialist, Julie White, at the William Monroe Trotta Elementary School, creator of the Antiline Puppet program.