IT'S A FIREFLY NIGHT
by Dianne Ochiltree ; illustrated by Betsy Snyder
On a summer’s night, a child sails out into her yard to gather (and then release) lightning bugs.
Just like the stars that seem to wink and glimmer in Snyder’s moonlit, mist-streaked night skies, fireflies glow in the grass amid scattered trees and flowers. They smile in close-up views as the child, barefoot and nightgown-clad, gently gathers them into a big jar while her father looks on. Reflecting that “I love catching fireflies, / but they are not mine,” she cups each captive in her hand before “easy and slow, / I whisper good-bye, / then I let it go!” A spread of firefly facts caps the idyllic nighttime foray. Rough sparkly patches on the jacket add a tactile element that compensates, at least in part, for inner flaps that cover parts of the endpaper nightscapes. The bugs and brushwork resemble Eric Carle’s, but Snyder’s art works its own magic.
An intimate encounter with nature lit not just by stars and fireflies, but also an affecting dose of daddy-daughter warmth.
(Picture book. 4-6)