We love Eric Carle, and frankly so should you. This book is no exception.
Can't you just picture him reading to his grand kids?
What Daddy says: Another classic Eric Carle book. For kids learning to read this book, like the others, has pretty repetitive sentences. In this case it's the source of illumination that changes every page. Flashlights, candles, lanterns, etc. It really exposes your child to the names and functions of different objects. As a bonus, like the very quiet cricket at the end of the book, there is a surprise. With the subject being a firefly I bet you can guess what happens.
What Mommy says: I love Eric Carl's books. When I saw the reviews for this one on Amazon I was a little put-off, since some claimed it was "too dark for a small child". I have to disagree. Especially with toddlers, a book is what you make of it. This book depicts a dog, cat, and owl (their eyes reflecting the lights) and the dog is barking, the cat hissing, and the owl hooting. Sure, the dog and cat seem a little disgruntled but that's real life and kids need to learn about the dark as well as the light.
What Willow says: Willow really likes this book. I can't quite place my finger on the reason why but night after night she picks The very lonely firefly to read. There are a few animals in the book and she likes to say their names when we get to that page. Unlike the Very quiet cricket, the battery powered lights at the end are starting to fade. We try to press the button to activate the lights and sometimes it works but, often times it doesn't. I guess we should get a new battery. Now Willow on the other hand looks forward to the last page. Is she excited to see the firefly's all flashing their lights? Oh course not, she loves to push the button. It doesn't really matter weather the lights blink or not as long as she gets to press the button.
