# The City Under the Back Steps

**Author:** Evelyn Sibley Lampman
**Grade range:** Grades 4–8
**Page count:** 0
**Genre:** Children's Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9781948959759`
**ISBN-10:** `1948959755`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/city-under-the-back-steps
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Meet Jill and Craig, two children who mysteriously shrink and are taken prisoner by an ant colony. Down beneath the ground they are herded, to the city under the back steps and the complex world of the ant colony. Here where the haughty Queen rules with an iron hand, each of her subjects has a vital role to perform, and Jill and Craig are put to work. But no sooner had they become involved in the daily routine of the colony when an army of red ants sweeps down, threatening the destruction of the city and its inhabitants, including Jill and Craig! Evelyn Sibley Lampman's exciting fantasy, sure to ignite an interest in nature, accurately explores the fascinating hierarchy of the ant world. 27 original illustrations by Honoré Valintcourt. Evelyn Lampman bases her fantasy on a meticulous knowl

## Where this book is assigned

### Vermont Golden Dome Book Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade · Vermont — [source: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (formerly Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award) — winner list 1957-2020 via Wikipedia — 1962 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Canfield_Fisher_Children%27s_Book_Award)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · Vermont — [source: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (formerly Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award) — winner list 1957-2020 via Wikipedia — 1962 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Canfield_Fisher_Children%27s_Book_Award)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · Vermont — [source: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (formerly Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award) — winner list 1957-2020 via Wikipedia — 1962 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Canfield_Fisher_Children%27s_Book_Award)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · Vermont — [source: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (formerly Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award) — winner list 1957-2020 via Wikipedia — 1962 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Canfield_Fisher_Children%27s_Book_Award)
- **recommended** · 8th grade · Vermont — [source: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (formerly Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award) — winner list 1957-2020 via Wikipedia — 1962 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Canfield_Fisher_Children%27s_Book_Award)

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