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Book Review:Fly's Eyes by Heywood Banks

Title & Author:Fly's Eyes by Heywood Banks, illustrated by Darren Thompson, 1997. (Available through www.heywoodbanks.com)

Length: Approx. 28 pages; song lyrics done as with one line on each illustrated page.

Print size:Big & easy, because only one line of the song (usually 8-9 words) is on each page.

Other readability issues: This is done in "picture book" format but it's not a picture book.

Summary: This is a "And Now For Something Completely Different" kind of book. Heywood Banks is a stand-up comedian who "does an adult show that you can bring kids to." "Lookin' at the World Through Fly's Eyes" is written in the first fly/person about a fly's journey "around your face," on horse manure and "poop de-jour" (spelled de-jur in the sheet music at the end of the book).

If you've got a very reluctant reader with a sense of humor and you want to finish a book quickly, this is a good option. This could also be used to augment learning life cycles of insects (or the discrediting of the spontaneous generation theory), as it mentions datitng "a maggot named Mary Lou" and other fly habits. However, if a song that includes "I get up in the morning when the dew is on the doo" and "horse manure" and "Poop du jour" is going to cause more problems than it's worth, it might be wise to pass on this book.

Typical words: This was not intended as a controlled- vocabulary picture book but there aren't many words at all.