Where there are ants, there is politics.

Where there are a lot of ants, there's bound to be a lot of politics.

Who are these ants and why should you read about them? Ants and education might not appear to have an obvious connection, but they go hand in hand in this novella.

The story takes place in an imaginary colony of ants. It is therefore timeless.

The novella considers the serious subject of education and the political issues related to this billion-dollar business, but in a humorous way. Common universal issues are projected into the setting of the ant colony.

The book tells how this small ant colony becomes internationally known for its achievements in education, which occur in events that are not dissimilar to those of the human world.

It is told in the same voice that links the past with the present in three contexts: a little ant who enjoys talking and learning from his grandfather (representing the distant past), the writer of the history book A Chronicle of Education of Antkind (the immediate past) and a book prize winner who seeks help from a stranger (the present).

Who's that Ant? Whose Dead End? is a real treat of a story that can be easily read in one sitting. You will most likely want to get more out of it by re-reading certain sections, or simply ponder your understanding of education the next time you see an ant.

Susanna Ho teaches full-time at a university in Hong Kong. This is her second novel. Her first, Mother's Tongue: A Story of Forgiving and Forgetting, was published in 2013.

Publisher's website: http://sbprabooks.com/SusannaHo