Price Tag: $10.00
Official URL: www.babygerkins.com
Rating:

“Fly By Firefly” is a tale of fun-loving creatures named “Gerkins”, and an excitable firefly that angers the Gerkins with his attempts to play. The Gerkins retaliate by capturing the firefly in a jar.

This story is a parable for childhood teasing in which both the motivations of the “bully” and the reactions of the “bullied” are made easy for children to understand.

THE ARTWORK

The artwork is simple but pleasant and cute, with a great energy.  The Gerkins are fanciful and look one part insect, one part partially hatched chick. The framing of the artwork on each page is unique and creative with large color blocks that the artwork escapes from. The art is colorful and engaging.

THE STORYLINE

The story is told in a gentle rhyme that even very young children will find easy to listen to. Older children will probably find the storyline a little bit simplistic, but I can see this book being a huge hit with toddlers that are going through a bullying (or bullied) stage, all the way up to around first or second grade.

BOTTOM LINE

This book is great for all young children, but will probably hold a special interest to parents whose children are a bit over-exhuberant in play, or children that are feeling a bit bullied at the playground. The gentle storyline explains why sometimes other children react angrily to enthusiastic play or teasing. This book is a great tool to teach by example and to act as a conversation starter about “playing gentle” and how to make friends. As the mom of a child who is sometimes overwhelming for other children, I truly appreciate this sweet little book.