Heather Hansen

No Ants Please by Heather Hansen is a gorgeously drawn (by Alexsander Jasinki) picture book that has a wonderful story to help introduce young children to various animals of Africa and the idea of different foods being appropriate for different bodies.

With food allergies so prevalent in our society, No Ants Please, is a fantastic way for children to learn that different foods may not react well in various people. Even though food allergies is not once mentioned, Hansen does it in such a way that the reader will not even realize they are being taught something.
It also shows them that trying new foods, while not always fun, is a good thing to do. And by incorporating the ostrich passing gas… well, children will love that.

No Ants Please is perfect for caregivers to read while children enjoy the drawings. Then after, they can discuss trying different foods, food allergies, and how eating healthy food that does not make you sick is very important.… (meer)

Hansen mostly hangs out with a wildland fire crew in Boulder, Colorado, but she travels around the western USA a bit too, talking with fire experts of various sorts. I didn't know much of anything about hotshots etc. before reading this book, and now I know a lot more. This is a very nice introductory survey. The final part of the book is a more detailed narrative of a fire in Boulder County that Hansen observed. They got the fire under control in a few days and only lost half a dozen houses or so, but it was plenty big enough to be scary.

It really is a kind of survey book. It doesn't have much structure or some central argument. It's just a ramble through the territory. But Hansen tells the stories well so the string of facts never gets boring.

We just moved to the west a few years ago, and then a few weeks ago we had an 80 acre wildfire on the mountainside a couple miles from our house, in clear view so we could watch the helicopters etc. This was a great book to satisfy the interest that was created by that event!… (meer)

This is a fun little Romeo and Juliet story. I know, fun and Romeo and Juliet story don't really belong in the same sentence, but trust me here. It's pretty obvious from the description that I had read on Amazon that it was going to go this way too, but it's not entirely predictable either. Hanson changes just enough to leave a little doubt in each scene as to how it's actually going to go and then I loved what she did with the end.

As some of you may know from other reviews, I'm not a fan of insta-love in books. It does get a little thick sometimes but not intolerable. It got a little close to intolerable but then I'd just remind myself that it's a stereotypical YA that is loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, the most insta-lovey story ever written. So, I felt compelled to go with it.

It's a story that I would have loved when I was an actual youth. Everything is a little too urgent now and I do have a pet peeve about all the adults being either corrupt or inept. I'm a little amazed that I still had such a good time with the writing despite that it had some of my least favorite YA tropes. I did find myself rolling my eyes often, but the second tier characters really had enough going on to keep me in the game to see whether this Romeo and Juliet ended up smarter kids than their predecessors.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. As I mentioned before, there were just enough changes to the storyline and some details that I wasn't entirely sure how some things were gonna go. Hanson also added a lot of depth to the core story and made it much more interesting than it's predecessor for me. That's not to slam Shakespeare, I know he's not for everyone but I'm generally a fan. This was just my least favorite of his stories because insta-love.

I'll probably check out the second book based on how the end went. I kinda love the idea of seeing what went down after Romeo and Juliet shook things up even way back when. I'm intrigued to see where it goes.… (meer)