On Top of the World

Jack Milton/Staff Photographer: Phil Hoose, author of "Hey Little Ant," talks with first and second graders at Friends School of Portland, in Falmouth, Wednesday, March 5, 2008. His book has been translated into several other languages. A national essay contest asks kids to answer the question at the end of the bookÐshould the ant get squished?

Jack Milton/Staff Photographer

Hey, Little Ant is now in 9 languages! It now can be read in Korean, Chinese, Hebrew, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian and, of course, if you are reading this — English.

But as they say in Germany, “Vom Leben und Leben lassen. Ein Menschenkind und eine Ameise geraten in ein Zwiegespräch, als das Kind gerade dabei ist, die Ameise zu zertreten. Die Ameise bietet gute Gründe auf, warum sie leben möchte. Aber ist dieser Winzling überhaupt ernst zu nehmen?”