The Fly

Written entirely from the point of view of a fly, one of nature’s less appealing creatures, this picture book is striking and original and likely to involve young readers and listeners in a real dilemma. A creature cannot help doing what is natural for it, can it? The fly is puzzled that its everyday activities – landing on food and constantly moving and buzzing – offend others. The impact of the book is considerable because of the way text and pictures are arranged on the page. There is effective use of some comic book conventions including speech bubbles, picture series and print which sometimes wanders over the page to show the fly’s flight. The large, distinctive illustrations show the world as a fly would see it. The cows which are so irritated by the fly’s attentions are wonderfully pictured as they gaze balefully out of the pages, and the series of pictures showing the boy trying to swat the fly will amuse.

Hugely inviting, and likely to encourage lively talk, I think this promises to be a firm favourite if not a classic. The ending is gloriously dynamic and young readers and listeners will love the final joke.