Sonderbooks Book Review of

Tiny Little Fly

by Michael Rosen

pictures by Kevin Waldron

Tiny Little Fly

by Michael Rosen
pictures by Kevin Waldron

Review posted October 15, 2013.
Candlewick Press, 2010. 32 pages.
Starred Review
2013 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #5 Picture Books

I’ve found a book I simply must read for my next Baby Storytime. It’s got great big pages and features great big animals – and one tiny little fly.

Tiny Little Fly lands on Great Big Elephant, and Great Big Hippo, and Great Big Tiger. They each wink one eye and try to catch the fly, with appropriate sound effects. They all fail.

The big vivid pictures make this perfect for a group reading, especially combined with the chorus of sounds like “Tramp! Crush! Tramp!” for the elephant. I especially like the winding trail of the fly pictured behind it. You can almost feel the fly landing.

And how common is that situation? You can easily relate to the animals saying to themselves, “I’m going to catch that fly!” But it’s so easy to believe they would vigorously try and fail.

At the end, there’s a big fold-out spread, with all three animals fruitlessly after the fly.

Just right for a beginning experience with books. It’s got animals, rhymes, repetition and predictability, big lovely pictures, buzzing sounds, things to chant, and even a happy ending.