I, Fly: The Buzz About Flies and How Awesome They Are by Bridget Heos

Informational Book

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Justification: I, Fly is a wonderful example of an informational book aimed toward elementary children ages 4-8. It features a diverse array of children as characters, which is nice to see in a picture book. I chose this book for its combination of both humor and science. I enjoyed how specific facts about a fly are portrayed in an accurate and fun way to understand. This informational book will help children build critical content information skills and introduces new vocabulary (i.e. metamorphosis, pupal casing, habitat). The book includes a glossary of terms in the back with easy to understand definitions.

Evaluation: Told from the perspective of a fly, our insect narrator educates a classroom full of children on why they should study a fly instead of the more preferred butterfly. He's tired of being overlooked for the more showy insect and makes a compelling argument for why they should study him instead. The fly comes in through an open window during science class and begins a lecture about its fascinating life cycle. The book is replete with gross-out factors dealing with maggots and when flies eat solid food, they even throw up on it to turn it into a liquid! The text includes a Q&A between the fly and the students. Students inquire about flies spreading diseases and they want to know if mosquitoes are flies. (True, but they aren't houseflies. They give flies a bad rap!).

The illustrations are large, colorful and playful and displayed as rather flat images. There are nice details in the pages about the classroom where we see legible writing on the chalkboard, microscopes, and mobiles of butterflies. The teacher is an African American man, and the book shows a diverse array of inquisitive children. Color is clearly important to the illustrator, Jennifer Plecas, as she depicts students from all types of races and backgrounds. This level of inclusivity helps fill a need for multicultural books. The visual elements are appealing in a cartoon-like fashion. The heads of the children are comprised of big, round shapes. The fly is portrayed as larger than life with big, googly eyes and we can see the detail in his wings and texture as conveyed through the hairs on his body.

The tone is playful and the content is chock-full of detailed, accurate scientific information. Our lively protagonist, the fly, is dynamic and engaging. Children will be engrossed in the instruction and rapt at attention. The text introduces new vocabulary in an accessible way which makes the topic easy to understand. Bridget Hoes employs humor when depicting the competitive relationship between the fly and the butterfly. Hoes has you rooting for the fly by the end of the book---even if he does eat poop and garbage!

Conclusion: This book is perfect for lower elementary aged children and the gross humor will appeal to children in a participatory way during a read-aloud. An unforgettable, fact-filled and fun presentation, I, Fly The Buzz About Flies and How Awesome They Are is great for both a read-aloud and a stand-alone read for older children.

Reference: Heos, B. (2015). I, fly: The buzz about flies and how awesome they are. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.