SWAT! Phew, that was close. Poor fly. All he wants to do is eat, get some exercise by flying around and around the kitchen light. He means no harm.
Animals don't like him either. Birds try to eat him, frogs, too. The cows shush him away with their swishing tails. Why? He just doesn't understand. He's innocuous. He means no harm.
Horáček's clever book follows the trails (literally) of this household pest from a sky-high, buzzing point of view. We follow the fly as swatters slap perilously around him, even popping from the page in fly swatter shapes.
Gorgeous illustrations stacked with colour, movement and humour bring kids along on this vivid fly-on-the-wall journey, perhaps providing an insight not so readily experienced in the lumbering body of the human. Kids will love this new POV.
I wanted to take flight with this adorable little fly. But in the end... I'm sorry... I still wanted to squash him.
Title: The Fly
Author/Illustrator: Petr Horáček
Publisher: Walker Books, $16.95 RRP
Publication Date: 1 May 2011
ISBN: 9781406330731
Format: Soft cover
For ages: 2 - 6
Type: Picture Book
