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Library | Audience | Home Location | Material Type | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Houston History Research Center, Ideson Building | Kid/Juvenile | Norma Meldrum Juvenile Special Collection | Kids reference material | CARLE | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
From bestselling author and illustrator Eric Carle, the creator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar , comes another classic tale about one very lonely firefly. A perfect gift to share with the child or grandchild in your life.
When a very lonely firefly goes out into the night searching for other fireflies, it sees a lantern, a candle, and the eyes of a dog, cat, and owl all glowing in the darkness. It even sees a surprise celebration of light. But it is not until it discovers other fireflies that it finds exactly what it's looking for--a surprise sure to bring smiles to anyone who turn the final page!
Lushly illustrated with Eric Carle's trademark vibrant collage art, soothingly told with a gentle read-aloud rhythm, and complete with a surprise sure to "light up" children's faces, The Very Lonely Firefly will fast become a storytime favorite. Read it with a flashlight in the dark or under the table--and watch those fireflies glow!
Praise for The Very Lonely Firefly :
"Carle's richly hued, collage-like art and gentle text will be comfortingly familiar to his numerous young devotees."-- Publishers Weekly
"This is a compelling accomplishment [and a] guaranteed winner as a read-aloud or read-alone."-- School Library Journal
Author Notes
Eric Carle is an award-winning, children's picture book author and illustrator whose most recognized work is The Very Hungry Caterpillar Board Book. Carle was born to German parents in 1929 in Syracuse, New York. The family returned to Germany in 1935, moving to a suburb of Stuttgart. Carle disliked high school, quitting at the age of 16 before graduation. He was admitted as the youngest student to the Akademie der bildenden Kunste, an art school.
After finishing at the Akademie, he worked as a poster designer for the U.S. Information Center in Germany until 1952, when he moved back to New York City. He was a graphic designer at the New York Times and later worked as an art director at L.W. Frohlich & Co. In 1963, Bill Martin, Jr. saw a poster of a red lobster that Carle had designed and asked him to illustrate Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, thus launching his freelance career. Among his many children's books are Dream Snow, Hello, Red Fox, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, and Pancakes, Pancakes! His title The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse made Publisher's Weekly Best Seller List for 2011. His title Brown Bear Brown Bear What to You See? made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. In 2015 he made The New Zealand Best Seller List with Love from the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Eric Carle, beloved children's book author and illustrator, died on May 23, 2021. He was 91.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 1This final addition to the ``Very Quartet'' is classic Carle in both story and illustrations. It's a natural continuation of his other stories about insects that teach young readers universal emotions, needs, and a variety of other concepts. The illustrations help the story unfold, as readers see a newborn firefly at the end of its first day. It searches for companionship, mistaking a lightbulb; candle; flashlight; lantern; dog, cat, and owl eyes; headlights; and fireworks for its own kind. Finally, it discovers a group of fireflies, giving him the gift of companionship. There's also evidence of a sublayer of the belonging theme here, as a human family is portrayed discovering the fireworks display. The illustrations are painted cut-paper collages, designed to draw the eye to the page. This is a compelling accomplishment that will leave readers and listeners alike wishing Carle would turn the quartet into a quintet. A guaranteed winner as a read-aloud or read-alone.Christina Dorr, Calcium Primary School, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
With characteristic simplicity-and the now expected visual ``surprise'' at book's end-Carle delivers another heartwarming tale about a diminutive creature on a quest. In the author/artist's words, his latest story "is about belonging." As the sun sets, a firefly is born: "It stretched its wings and flew off into the darkening sky." Searching for other fireflies, the lonely little guy flies hopefully toward other lights (a bulb in a window, a candle, a flashlight, the shining eyes of an owl, car headlights, fireworks), only to discover that they are not what he is looking for. Youngsters will be as tickled as the no-longer-lonely firefly to find, on the last spread, "a group of fireflies, flashing their lights"-with the help of replaceable batteries (final version not seen by PW). Carle's richly hued, collage-like art and gentle text will be comfortingly familiar to his numerous young devotees. Ages 4-up. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
In this fourth book in a series that began with 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' (Philomel), a lonely newborn firefly flits through a summer night looking for companions but finds, instead, a lightbulb, a candle, a flashlight, and the headlights of a car taking a family to a fireworks display. When the 'sparkling and glittering and shimmering' of the fireworks subside, the firefly happily finds a group of fireflies, which actually twinkle when the readers turns to the last page. From HORN BOOK 1995, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Twenty-five years after The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1968) ate his way through a remarkable book, another Very book, about a firefly in search of company, shows a master of bold, dramatic design in search of a story. A lone firefly ``born as the sun sets'' follows a family's candle, flashlight, and lantern to a quarreling dog, cat, and owl, whose eyes reflect lights. The family drives to a fireworks display. The firefly follows their headlights and finds a sky full of fireflies, tails blinking. With or without batteries, Carle's creations have plenty of spark; what he needs is a warmer, friendlier story. Except for the endearing firefly and owl, the characters are static and the balloons of text out of place in the artwork. The finished book is to include battery- powered flashing tails; an author's note appears on the book jacket. (Picture book. 3-8)
Booklist Review
Ages 3-6. Born one evening as the sun sets, a little firefly stretches its wings and goes off looking for others of its kind. Attracted by the lights, it flies toward a candle, a flashlight, a lantern, and finally a sky full of fireworks, only to be disappointed. When everything quiets down, though, other fireflies come out and flash their lights. The little firefly isn't lonely anymore. Although the text may not be as strong as in Carle's best picture books, its simplicity and its depiction of feeling lonely and finding one's place in a group will appeal to preschoolers. As the flap copy says, "The Very Lonely Firefly is about belonging." The illustrations, collages of painted papers, make strong visual statements in the artist's signature style. --Carolyn Phelan
