PPBF: The Little Firefly

Today I'm positively glowing because I get to reveal a glorious newcomer on its birthday! My PPBF pick is sure to enchant and engage you as this adorable little firefly finds her light and learns to let it shine.

Title: The Little Firefly
Author:  Sheri Fink
Illustrator: Mary Erikson Washam
Publisher: Self-published by Sheri Fink
Date: March 22, 2013 
Suitable for: ages 6 and up
Fiction
Brief Synopsis: A little firefly notices that she doesn't glow like the others. Playfully teasing, a friend tells her that fireflies who don't glow have to go live with the June bugs. This frightens the little firefly and makes her wonder if she will ever find her light.

Opening page:  On a warm summer evening, a group of fireflies happily twinkled over a moonlit meadow. They sparkled in the night sky and danced in the darkness. The air was thick with the sweet smell of honeysuckle and the soft sound of the breeze whispering through the trees. The little Firefly watched the others and wondered when she would glow as beautifully as they did.

Resources:
*Read an interview with the author at BeachBoundBooks {here}
*Visit the author's website {here}
*Find activity suggestions for The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle which would work beautifully with The Little Firefly {here}
*Introduce some new vocabulary: tranquil, assured, carefree, frustrated, disheartened, devised, embarrassed, sympathetically, loyal, self-confidence, genuine

Why I like this book: This little firefly endeared herself to me instantly because she wants what everybody else does - to belong - and she's incredibly adorable in her pursuit! She's just sure that she'll fit in better once she's able to glow like the older fireflies. When her friend playfully teases her that fireflies who don't glow have to live with the June bugs, she feels nervous and starts to worry. We'll use this page as an opportunity to talk about playful teasing and hurtful teasing ... is there really such a thing as playful teasing? And how do we know when they've gone too far? This is such a critical discussion to have with our budding friends.

The next few pages intrigue me because the little Firefly decides she's got this and can problem solve it by herself. This would be a great time to find out from your little lights what they would do in her shoes to get her glow on and/or what they predict she will do. First she feigns illness - who hasn't tried that trick before? - and when she gets bored with that, she goes out but stays close to the porch light and pretends she's aglow. Finally she wraps herself in a shiny yellow ribbon but to no avail; she's just not able to speed up the "gift of glow" and shine like the others. That's when her friends come to her rescue and assure her that she does not need to win their friendship by glowing; she just has to be herself.

For enrichment, have students bring in a flashlight (or buy those little keychain keepsake lights and give one to each student) and use it to create a friendship code (think morse code!). Have them try it out on one another. Or dim the lights and play indoor flashlight tag. Compare and contrast the book with Leo the Lightning Bug by Eric Drachman and The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle; so many possibilities as your students learn to shine their own lights in their own time. 

Have you discovered a book that you want to tell us about? Why not link up with author Susanna Hill over at her blog {here}.