A line of ants marches toward an unknown destination against a background of successive double-page spreads featuring the various flora and fauna encountered during the journey.The initial double-page spread, like all the others, has a stark white background, broken by stylized, black-inked, plantlike designs. The foreground of this spread shows a large, cross-sectioned, brown anthill. Its white tunnels and chambers—some containing ants and others with such ant necessities as seeds and aphids—branch out from the book's center, accompanied by accessible text with brief explanations. The scores of black ants have a realistic body shape, with crescent-moon negative space creating comical eyes. From the start, red ink urges readers to "keep an eye out" for a "little ant in red socks hiding in every picture in this book." This offers two advantages: extra fun along the way, and a cushion of relief at the unexpected, nature-can-be-harsh ending. The ant in red socks sometimes makes comments and often gets distracted. Facts about different animals and plants have been well chosen to spark curiosity, with sentences arranged informally around the colorful, engaging, and often comical plants and animals. Reading in this random order works well until the penultimate page, where an unfinished sentence along a thin, pink road leads to the next page's dark punchline. This comes as something of a narrative sucker punch after this lighthearted journey that's allowed readers to become fond of these insect characters.Natural selection lite? (Picture book. 4-7)

Stylized ants march from their grainy hill and through the forest at the opening of this close-up, visually engaging title. Subsequent spreads approximate a generic woodland, where typeset captions hover between blades of grass, arch along a fir cone, or proceed vertically up a tree. One ant, reminiscent of a Richard Scarry character, always stands apart from her peers- uniform line wearing two red socks; alone, she climbs a daffodil, greets a caterpillar, and escapes a woodpecker-s long pink tongue. In playful illustrations, Rzezak traces stems and flowers with black lines and stippled dots against a white ground, and tints select plants, bugs, birds, and mammals in froggy green, wheat gold, and earthy brown. Basic observations (-The hare is famous for running fast-; -Owls come out to hunt when it-s dark-) and frequent warnings (-Some mushrooms are toxic, so look, but don-t touch!-; -Beware of ticks! They can bite you-) are less interesting than the facts about ants themselves: -Whoops! An ant has fallen! But don-t worry. It-s very light, so it won-t hurt itself when it lands.- Short on information but filled with captivating imagery, this diversion, originally published in France, suggests an ant-s-eye glimpse of flora and fauna. Ages 3-5. (Sept.)