I liked this book for three reasons. The first was the way Joshua Prince could create the setting through strong descriptive words. For example, the book begins with “Well, I saw an ant in the parking lot. The sun was high, the pavement hot. He was walking along, not caring a jot, a little blank ant in a big black plot.” From this same excerpt you can see the fun rhyming scheme that many audience members would also enjoy. This book is action-packed and very suspenseful – it has the audience on the edge of their seats wanting to know what is going to happen as the any walks though the parking lot and a car starts heading straight towards it. The ticket matron sees everything that’s about to happen and hatches a plan to help save the ant. The bright, detailed illustrations fill up every page and also help create the setting and give a visualization to the words on the page. This book is a fun read and very well done!

This story is a great story about someone going out of their way to help someone or something else that they don't know. ( )

Age Appropriatness: primary
This book is a good example of good example of contemporary realistic fiction because it tells of a girl named Dorothy who saves an ant from being run over by a mini-van. The plot that the author creates keeps the reader engaged because there is conflict of how is she going to save this ant.
The media in this book is acrylic.

Age Appropriateness: Primary
Genre: Fantasy
Review:This book is a good example of fantasy because our main character Dorothy has created this world around saving an ant that is in her parking lot. Dorothy is a parking lot attendant and there is an ant in the parking lot that is just about to get run over by the mom and her kids in the red mini van. Dorothy devises a plan to save the ant who is destined for certain death.
Characterization, plot, setting, theme: This story takes place in the parking lot of a mall in any time era.
Media: mixed media

Prince, Joshua. I Saw an Ant in a Parking Lot. Illustrated by Macky Pamintuan. Sterling Publishing Co., 2007
*From Bird Library Collection

Annotation
A follow-up to his last book, I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track, Prince tells again a story of an ant in a potentially dangerous situation. This particular ant is in the path of a van looking for a place to park when the ticket matron becomes aware of the impending accident. Using her quick mind and strong arm the ticket matron hurls a doughnut towards the ant and is able to avoid a disastrous ending.

Artwork
The entire book is done in a double-page layout and the caricature-like drawings are colorful and fun. The drawings are very expressive as the reader can tell from the ant’s face that he’s completely oblivious to the danger he is in. But it is unclear, from both the text and the illustrations, exactly how the ant was saved.

Who is the book appropriate for? Why? How would you use the book?
The target audience for this book is children aged 4-7. Children aged 4 and 5 will enjoy reading about the personified ant and will delight in the rhyme throughout the book. 6 and 7 year olds will like the humor of the ticket matron going through all the trouble of trying to save an ant. This book is filled with rhyming words which will help children develop a better phonological awareness when it is read aloud and the rhyming is stressed in the reading. By pointing to the words that are repeated again and again (ie. lot) children can improve their print awareness as well. The story also provides the talking point of parking lot safety.