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A review by bookph1le
Firefly Hollow by Alison McGhee
3.0
It was cute, but it didn't totally grab me. More complete review to come.
Full review:
Firefly Hollow is a very sweet little book with cute, engaging characters, but it never completely reinvents the wheel. I didn't dislike anything about it, but I never found it new enough or different enough to elevate beyond a nice book that children will likely enjoy. Some minor spoilers to follow.
The book tackles a few important themes that are pretty standard for children's literature, such as grief and nonconformity. Peter, the human boy, is dealing with the loss of his good friend, a loss that's never completely spelled out, but is heavily implied as having ended in his friend's death. I wasn't quite sure how to take this. On the one hand, by not having an explicit discussion of what happened to Peter's friend, the book doesn't delve into any scary topics. On the other, I kind of thought it lessened the impact of the event because it shrouds it in a sort of obscurity, which makes it difficult to tackle the concrete topic of what that loss means to Peter.
As for the nonconformity aspect of the book, it's fairly explicit here. Cricket and Firefly are both told that "giants" are dangerous and to be avoided at all times. I think it's always a good thing for children and adults to think about the concept of "other" and how damaging it can be. Cricket and Firefly get to know Peter and they know he doesn't fit the definition they've been fed their whole lives, but they still find it difficult to convince others. This is an important topic to discuss with children. By talking about how people aren't always what they seem and that accepting what they hear about a person as truth can be damaging, children can be taught empathy and to learn to judge for themselves. This is a plus in the book's favor.
Nonconformity is also dealt with in regard to Firefly's desire to go to the moon and Cricket's desire to learn more about baseball. I found this pretty standard fare, conveying the usual "dream big" kind of messages. I did appreciate that the book shows that there can be limits to what can be achieved, but I wasn't particularly engaged with this aspect of the story.
There's a subplot here that was obvious to me but that might prove surprising for young readers. As an adult, I found the subtle messages about the differences in the ways adults and children interpret the world to be interesting. It's not an original statement or all that original of a means of expressing it, but the author is saying something here about how adults lose some of the positive aspects that seem inherent in children.
Vole was possibly my favorite character in this book, and I wish I could have seen more of him. His is the more compelling story, really, as he faces great loss yet shows much resilience in the face of that loss. I like what it says about identity and what it means to lose human connections, as well as what it implies about cultural loss.
I was initially a bit surprised by the recommended ages noted on the back of this book--8-12--as one of my kids falls into this category but the book description made it seemed as though it were aimed at younger children. Now that I've read it, though, I can say it's a pretty philosophical book that could be very well suited for children in that age range as it offers some possibilities for deeper discussion. It's a nice story, and I can see how it would appeal to many, it just didn't grab me all that much.
Full review:
Firefly Hollow is a very sweet little book with cute, engaging characters, but it never completely reinvents the wheel. I didn't dislike anything about it, but I never found it new enough or different enough to elevate beyond a nice book that children will likely enjoy. Some minor spoilers to follow.
The book tackles a few important themes that are pretty standard for children's literature, such as grief and nonconformity. Peter, the human boy, is dealing with the loss of his good friend, a loss that's never completely spelled out, but is heavily implied as having ended in his friend's death. I wasn't quite sure how to take this. On the one hand, by not having an explicit discussion of what happened to Peter's friend, the book doesn't delve into any scary topics. On the other, I kind of thought it lessened the impact of the event because it shrouds it in a sort of obscurity, which makes it difficult to tackle the concrete topic of what that loss means to Peter.
As for the nonconformity aspect of the book, it's fairly explicit here. Cricket and Firefly are both told that "giants" are dangerous and to be avoided at all times. I think it's always a good thing for children and adults to think about the concept of "other" and how damaging it can be. Cricket and Firefly get to know Peter and they know he doesn't fit the definition they've been fed their whole lives, but they still find it difficult to convince others. This is an important topic to discuss with children. By talking about how people aren't always what they seem and that accepting what they hear about a person as truth can be damaging, children can be taught empathy and to learn to judge for themselves. This is a plus in the book's favor.
Nonconformity is also dealt with in regard to Firefly's desire to go to the moon and Cricket's desire to learn more about baseball. I found this pretty standard fare, conveying the usual "dream big" kind of messages. I did appreciate that the book shows that there can be limits to what can be achieved, but I wasn't particularly engaged with this aspect of the story.
There's a subplot here that was obvious to me but that might prove surprising for young readers. As an adult, I found the subtle messages about the differences in the ways adults and children interpret the world to be interesting. It's not an original statement or all that original of a means of expressing it, but the author is saying something here about how adults lose some of the positive aspects that seem inherent in children.
Vole was possibly my favorite character in this book, and I wish I could have seen more of him. His is the more compelling story, really, as he faces great loss yet shows much resilience in the face of that loss. I like what it says about identity and what it means to lose human connections, as well as what it implies about cultural loss.
I was initially a bit surprised by the recommended ages noted on the back of this book--8-12--as one of my kids falls into this category but the book description made it seemed as though it were aimed at younger children. Now that I've read it, though, I can say it's a pretty philosophical book that could be very well suited for children in that age range as it offers some possibilities for deeper discussion. It's a nice story, and I can see how it would appeal to many, it just didn't grab me all that much.