Xenia Navarro and the Magic Ants by Lois Wickstrom and Milagros Darling – Review by Dr. Anya Schultz

Xenia Navarro and the Magic Ants by Lois Wickstrom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Xenia Navarro and the Magic Ants is a story about a young girl named Xenia and her brother Lucas who live with their undocumented mother. Their father was a soldier in the Army and had died overseas prior to being able to marry their mother. Xenia and her mother love to garden and have this special rock in their yard. This rock has special ants that help the sunflowers grow tall. Xenia loves science and decides to do a project on the ants and sunflowers. She learns from a Deetkatoo (Native American Little People) that the rock is a meteorite that helps him and the ants survive. However, one day Xenia’s mother is arrested by ICE and the children try to figure out a way to get her back. The troublesome man who is always spying on them, who lives next door is always trying to get their rock. In order to get the rock, he called the government on Xenia’s mom just to be able to “protect” the meteorite. The children try many different things to help protect the Deetkatoo, keep the rock, do well in school, and try to get their mother out of being deported. In the end, the mother is deported, living separately from her children, but it turns out for the best. Xenia’s mother succeeds in Mexico, finds love, and has a plan to come back to the US for her children.
For me, this was a strange story. I don’t know enough about the legends of the Deetkatoo or the magic that they possibly possess, so the story didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I also thought it was a little sad and heavy for a youth book, but at the same time informative about a problem that the US has. While each little story within the entire story was okay, I didn’t feel like they all went together. Also, the ending with the Deetkatoo and the mother is just weird. I thought the characters that were the children were the most decent part of the story. They were smart, interesting, and determined to solve problems. Also, the fact that the daughter was into science may encourage other girls to enter into STEM areas.

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