The Fly

by Petr Horacek, Petr Horacek (Illustrator)

Overview

There’s never a dull moment in this funny, beautifully illustrated tale depicting a pesky fly in a whole new light.

The housefly in this story doesn’t understand why people won’t share their food with him or play with him . . . and why do they keep trying to give him a swat? He’s not doing any harm! In a clever, interactive novelty book buzzing with fun, Petr Horácek may make readers reluctant to turn the final page.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763674809
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/12/2015
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Petr Horacek has created numerous picture books for children, including Animal Opposites, One Spotted Giraffe, Silly Suzy Goose, and Strawberries Are Red. Born in Czechoslovakia, he now lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

03/09/2015
Readers get to be a fly on the wall—and the ceiling and the breakfast table—alongside a six-legged narrator who spends much of Horacek’s story trying to avoid a bright blue flyswatter that lands with a loud “FLAP.” The housefly can’t understand what all the fuss is about: “Look at him down there. He’s after me already and it’s only breakfast time,” it complains in an inverted scene that shows a redheaded, flyswatter-wielding boy sitting upside-down in a kitchen. Horacek (The Mouse Who Ate the Moon) has great fun spoofing fly behavior (“After breakfast, I do my exercises—156 times around the lamp keeps me fit”) and playing up the insect’s unawareness of its pest status (“Once a frog nearly ate me, then a bird nearly caught me. Both in the same day. Why?”). Lush mixed-media artwork makes cupcakes and cookies look tempting to humans and flies alike, and while the world is stacked against the fly, after it lands on the boy’s forehead, a die-cut flyswatter lets readers help whack the kid in the face with it—a small victory for a small hero. Ages 3–7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Horácek's fly's-eye view of a misunderstood insect's life will be a nifty read at storytime or one-on-one ... it's definitely buzz-worthy.
—Kirkus Reviews

Cleverly cut-out swatters make this an interactive book of a different sort. In the end, the reader has a moral decision of her own—to close the book and squash the fly or to carefully read it again. I would read it again.
—BookPage

Pair this with Lydia Monks’s Aaaarrgghh! Spider! (HMH, 2004) for a fun-filled storytime about sympathetic creepy crawlies.
—School Library Journal

The fly’s- eye vantage point is deftly conveyed, particularly the topsy-turvy scene in which the fly addresses viewers from the ceiling, while the boy seems suspended from the floor...This Hobson’s choice will undoubtedly delight more sanguinary readers.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Several pages feature die-cut fly swatters which, when combined with other clever elements of perspective and tone, make this book highly interactive and entertaining.
—Literacy Daily

The best readaloud picture book of 2015.
—Betsy Bird, A Fuse 8 Production

Readers get to be a fly on the wall.
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

06/01/2015
PreS-Gr 2—Poor Fly just can't catch a break. Even though he's just a normal housefly, people don't like him in the house. No matter where he goes or what he does, everyone wants to swat him. "Flap!" Through humorous text ("After breakfast, I do my exercises—156 times around the lamp keeps me fit!") and bright mixed-media illustrations, including several pages that cleverly serve as a flip-the-flap fly swatter, this will be a sure hit with the preschool crowd. Pair this with Lydia Monks's Aaaarrgghh! Spider! (HMH, 2004) for a fun-filled storytime about sympathetic creepy crawlies. VERDICT A great companion title for fans of Tedd Arnold's "Fly Guy" books (Scholastic).—Jessica Marie, Salem Public Library, OR

School Library Journal

2015-03-03
What's it like to be a fly? Well, it ain't easy."Two googly eyes, six hairy legs, two transparent wings….It's ME! The housefly. But people don't like me being in the house." Poor fly. The fly stands on the ceiling looking down at a boy holding a fly swatter…and it's only breakfast time. The Musca domestica exercises to stay fit (156 times around the light fixture) before the swish of the fly swatter sends the chatty pest outside. A visit to the cows for their lovely scent is in order, but the irritable flap of a tail ends that. The fly recollects nearly being eaten by a frog and a bird in the same day: "Why?" Back to the house for some lunch; "FLAP!" goes the fly swatter (the page is cut to the shape of the evil tool—a nice touch); the chase begins again. A brief respite on the boy's forehead summons another "FLAP!" and another shaped page whacks the boy in the face. Poor fly. "I mean no harm to anyone. So, if you see me, please be kind. HEY, don't close the book…HELP…HELP…Do you want to squash me?" Horácek's fly's-eye view of a misunderstood insect's life will be a nifty read at storytime or one-on-one, particularly with a little practice to correctly time the two die-cut fly swatter pages. The attractive mixed-media illustrations are inviting. This apologium may not change minds about flies, but it's definitely buzz-worthy. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews