Bernardosaurus says:Bernardosaurus says:This was my second published book and my first word-play book.
Over the years, I've received so many wonderful comments from teachers who have used There's An Ant In Anthony in their classrooms. I will always remember a conference call I received from over fifty teachers all across Kansas. A third-grade teacher said that using There's An Ant In Anthony in her classroom was the most gratifying teaching experience of her entire career.
This book is another of my persistence stories. It was rejected by 19 publishers. The 20th publisher, William Morrow, liked my original dummy enough to have a meeting with me. Before they could offer a contract, they wanted me to make it more interesting for the reader. But they didn't know what that was.
At home, my wife Amy suggested I try making more of a story out of it. I thought and thought for weeks, until I came up with the four picture format with a clue for the word Anthony is searching for in the lower right picture. For example: Anthony searches all over his room, and the clue (a plant) is sitting on top of the chest of drawers in the lower right picture. On the next page, Anthony finds an Ant in a plant. At my next meeting, I presented some rough pages with this new format. The editors loved it and offered me a contract. I'm glad I persisted, and I dedicated this book "To Amy with love, for all your help."