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This book was inspired by my daughter Maia and is

dedicated to all children who like to dream and play.
Enjoy your childhood.

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Amy lived with her family in the big rainforest on the

eastern side of the little Island of Tobago. She

belonged to a family of leaf-cutting ants, who were

very big and strong. Amy was different though. Her

family was very large and she had lots of brothers and

sisters.

Grandpa Tim was her favourite, because he always

told her lots of stories. Amy loved to sit in the cool of

the afternoon, while her sisters were working, and

listen to grandpa’s stories. This always got her into

trouble.

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You see, Amy’s mother was the queen and she was

very strict. She made sure that everyone had enough

work to do to keep them busy, but more than that she

had to ensure

that they store

up enough

food before

the rainy

season came,

which would

make it difficult for them to gather food. If they didn’t,

there will be no food for the long season and many

ants would die.

Amy did not think about that, she thought she was

much too young to do all that work. So, while all her
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sisters were working she spent most of her time

daydreaming, playing with her friend Brian the bee or

curled up next to Grandpa Tim listening to his stories.

On Sunday morning the sun came up early and shone

very bright in the air, the breeze was cool and Ma Bee

called all her children together to give them their work

for the day. Her sister Clara was always punctual and

she came bouncing along in the work clothes

munching a small leaf she had for breakfast. Every one

gathered happily, except for Amy.

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“Amy, Amy”, Mom called, but there was no answer,

“Aaaa…my, Aaaa….my!” Mom called again. “Yes Ma,

I’ll be right out”. Five minutes passed and still no Amy.

“Amy, Where are you?”, “Right here Ma, I’m coming,

Please don’t leave me today,

I’ m coming”. So they waited,

and to everyone’s amazement

Amy came out of the house

fully dressed in her work

clothes, with her own style of

course.

She had on her boots, her

jacket and her favorite brown hat with the green

ribbon around it. “I’m ready to work, today. Where are

we going, up the hill I hope?”

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Mother gave her final instructions and off they went

to gather leaves before the rains came. Everyone got

the same leaves that Ma directed them to, but Amy’s

was different. She could be seen at the end of the line

with her ‘special leaf’ that was way too heavy for her

to carry.

The morning went well, and all the leaves on the plain

were gathered. Then, just as Amy thought, the

message came for them to head for the top of the hill.

Amy could not contain herself, “Yipeeeeee, we’re

going up the hill,” she shouted.

Amy always wanted to go up the hill, ever since

Grandpa Tim told her of the beautiful land beyond the

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hill where all was nice and no one had to work. She

looked forward to such a place and often talked about

it with her friend Brian and the other animals in the

forest. Today was the day; she would finally get her

chance to go to the top of the hill where she would

see the path that led to the beautiful land.

So Amy dropped the leaf she had in her hand and sped

off to the front of the line. When she got to the top of

the hill, she put her hand on her hips and shouted to

the top of her voice. “I

made it, I made it, I’m

finally here and I shall see”.

Everyone wondered what

she was talking about but

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they had way too much work to do to bother about

daydreaming Amy.

Her shouting stopped, and a frown spread evenly

about her face, when in fact, she did not see. “Where

was it”, she wondered? “Did Grandpa tell a lie?” Amy

suddenly got very quiet as she stumbled to the other

side of the hill.

Her sisters were hard at work, collecting all the food

they could get. They got guavas and plums that fell

from the trees, leaves from short and tall trees and

moss that lay on the ground. There was so much food

to collect that all hands were needed. Her sister Clara

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sent a message to Ma to send out the flying team to

help carry the food home.

In a short time the flying team came and busily carried

all the food home. The day was done and it was time

to go, but Amy was nowhere to be found.

Her sister got frantic and

started to search. Everyone

pitched in, including Amy’s

friend Brian who heard that

she was missing. They searched everywhere and still

no Amy was found. Word was sent home to Ma and

the army ants were called out to help find poor little

Amy.

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Meanwhile, Amy had gone to the other side of the

mountain and on her way down the path she slipped

and fell. As she was about to get up she observed a

strange winding path just as the one that Grandpa Tim

had described in his story. Her curiosity got the better

of her and she started to follow the path.

“ Could it be, could it be”, she mumbled to herself. “ I

know it is, I know it is”. “Today I will find it, and never

will I have to do all that work again”.

Amy, did not think about her sisters or her Ma who

would be worried that she was gone as she followed

the path all the way.

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Pretty soon she she got to the end of the path and it

was just as Grandpa had described it, “no even

better”, she thought, it was the most beautiful land

she had ever seen.

The flowers were bright, and the trees were green and

lovely. It was as though it was a different part of the

world. There was a large river flowing between the

trees and everyone was having fun. There was so

much laughter. Amy had never seen anything such as

this. She wondered if anyone worked. And for a

moment she thought of home, but soon forgot as she

splashed in the cool water running by.

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Amy was never so happy, she played and played and

she did not even realize that she was hungry until her

tummy started to

growl. She wondered

where she would get

food from but before

she could finish the

thought, from

nowhere it seemed a

big slice of melon appeared.

Amy sunk her teeth in the melon and it was the

sweetest melon she ever tasted. Amy forgot herself

and she ate until she could eat no more. Every where

she looked there was food.

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“Grandpa was right after all” she thought. This is the

most beautiful land I have ever seen.

Back home, they had almost given up. The clouds were

getting black and everyone knew what was about to

happen. If they did not find Amy soon they will have to

close the door without her. That would be the hardest

thing that Ma would have to do. Although Amy was

lazy, you couldn’t help but love her. Her smile was

sweet and her laughter bright and she had a way of

making everyone around her happy.

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Amy had eaten so much now, and she was soooo….

tired she could hardly move. Just then she heard a

loud whooshing sound and wondered, “What is that”.

Before she could look around she felt a swift breeze

blowing and away she went. She found herself going

down a narrow tunnel and several others were behind

her. She started to shout but no one could hear her,

and no one bothered; everyone was trying to save

themselves.

“Where is the army, call out the army”, Amy shouted.

But there was no army. Amy was all alone. She had

never been so alone before and it was scary.

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As she stumbled around

the long dark tunnel she

began to realize where

she was, when at the end

of the tunnel she could

feel the stinging of the

juices in the stomach of

the anteater.

“What shall I do”, Amy thought, and then she

remembers a story Grandpa had told her and she

started to tickle the hairs in the throat of the anteater.

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She tickled and tickled with all the might she had, and

the anteater gave a big sneeze. Out came Amy and all

of the other Ants as the anteater said “aitchoo!”

Amy got up and ran as fast as she could, but it was

hard for her to see her way since there was sticky,

slimy goo all over her face. She was about to give up,

when she felt big swoosh and found herself flying in

the air.
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“Who is that, who is that, please don’t eat me”. I know

I should never have left home, I promise I will never do

it again. I will do all my chores, and help my sisters too.

Please, please don’t eat me”.

Brian wanted to laugh but he had never seen his friend

so afraid, so he gave her a hug and a friendly warn

smile and flew her straight home to her family.

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Written and Illustrated By Ann Marie deGazon

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