Juan Hormiga
by
Translated from Spanish by Robert Croll
Published:
$14.00 – $22.00
By Gustavo Roldán
Translated from the Spanish by Robert Croll
Juan Hormiga, the greatest storyteller of his entire anthill, loves to recount his fearless grandfather’s adventures. When Juan and his fellow ants gather around for story time, he hypnotizes all with tales of his grandfather’s many exploits – including his escape from an eagle’s talons and the time he leapt from a tree with just a leaf for a parachute. When he’s through telling these tales, Juan loves to cozy up for a nice long nap. He’s such a serious napper that he takes up to ten siestas every day! Though well loved by his ant friends, Juan decides telling tales and sleeping aren’t quite enough for him – it’s time to set off on his own adventure. With whimsical, irresistible illustrations, Juan Hormiga affirms the joys of sharing stories, and of creating your own out in the world.
Published: May 4, 2021
Praise
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Juan Hormiga is finally available in English, and thank goodness! . . . Whimsical, charming, fun, adorable, the whole nine yards of illustration and description . . . Juan Hormiga is a jewel of a story. It has everything my kids and I want from a book.
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Storytelling shows itself as both art form and communal delight in Gustavo Roldán’s tale of an exceedingly small raconteur . . . Juan Hormiga specializes in relating episodes from the life of his grandfather, a daredevil whose exploits, as Juan tells them, enthrall his industrious compatriots . . . Readers ages 5-8 will find themselves brought full circle in this assured and charming tale.
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Magnificent and silly and tender all at once--a perfect book. Juan Hormiga is a napping and narrating hero lovable to humans large and small alike.
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Juan, a red denizen of a colony of busy black ants, offsets his extreme indolence by enthralling his mates with picaresque tales of his grandfather’s derring-do . . . Charmingly ant-ic black line drawings, accented with red, green, and yellow, pop against expansive white space. Dialogue is keyed in red type, enhancing the handsome overall design. Roldán celebrates the social currency of cracking-good storytelling—and the expediency of a well-placed nap.
— Kirkus -
Juan Hormiga is an ant with two skills: his impressive napping and his hypnotic storytelling . . . With a funny ending, a nested telling, and a folktale’s meandering charm, this story has the same hypnotic draw as Juan Hormiga’s own.
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This Argentinian import, a delightfully idiosyncratic ode to storytelling, just begs for a readers’ theater performance, balancing the various ants’ emotive musings with a folkloric narrative tone . . . The scribbly art has a cheerful verve with dynamic compositions and a plethora of frantic motion lines, and the ants themselves are pleasingly odd little dudes with oversized beaklike heads protruding over pudgy bottoms and sticklike appendages.
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An amazing tale of naps and adventures, of brave little ants and parachutes of leaves, that brings a taste of Argentina to curious young readers in the United States.
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Gustavo Roldán gives us here a book about the importance of stories, of tales, about a tradition of oral storytelling that passes from generation to generation, about fantasy and the need to dream.
— Boolino -
The book is charming . . . The art is done in black ink with bursts of color in red, green and tiny bits of yellow . . . Much like Stuart Little . . . Juan Hormiga is refreshing in its simplicity.
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A marvelous little book that I recommend, especially to those who live through well-told tales. . . . Its illustrations are crisp, lively, and powerful.
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Magnificent and silly and tender all at once—a perfect book. Juan Hormiga is a napping and narrating hero lovable to humans large and small alike.
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Juan Hormiga is a little tiny ant but his stories do wonders. When he sets off on his own adventures, you are on the edge of your seat to see where he is going and what will happen . . . A beautiful, playful story full of sparkle & creativity.
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A fun adventure for young readers, packed with a love for storytelling and energetic illustrations.
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Fun, literate little piece with a good old-fashioned quality, these sparse pages and small illustrations capture an ant with a hugely impressive grandfather's history to recount – or a huge imagination.
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Every class needs this uplifting little burst of a book, Juan Hormiga from Elsewhere Editions. Regaling memories of his grandfather's brave adventures, this little napping ant spreads a message of courage, wanderlust & the gift of storytelling wherever he ventures. Charming, with clever illustrations!
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I really enjoyed this 'epic' of a picture book. It's not often that I read picture books like this one.
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This is a thoroughly enjoyable, excellent children's book. One I would love to read with a child (and will do, as I plan to buy one when published!…) …I will not spoil the storyline, but suffice to say that this is a fable which can be read in a number of ways - the need for art, for dreams, for adventures, for family lore.
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Such a sweet book for 2-5 year olds, showing children the power of imagination and storytelling...
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Juan Hormiga by Gustavo Roldan is a lovely little tale of adventure and naps. Full of character.
— Jo Alvin -
I loved this. It's sweet and contemplative and hides its layers in simplicity in the way of the best picture books. As the blustering ant full of tall tales - who one day sets out on his own dangerous adventure - Juan is brilliantly likeable.