Shoo Fly! [Hardcover]

Iza Trapani (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Shoo fly, don't bother me!

In another of Iza Trapani's well-known picture books based on nursery rhymes or songs, an adorable mouse tries to escape from a determined fly. Children will giggle with delight as they watch the mouse sneak away, hide, swat, and run from his persistent aerial companion.

As her audience has come to expect, Iza's exuberant illustrations fill the pages of the book with energy and joy, and keep the reader moving, wondering what will happen next.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-Take a perky song, extend it, surround it with effervescent illustrations, and you have a winner. An intrepid little mouse spends quite a while fighting a very persistent fly. At the end of the battle of wits, both youngsters are lovingly tucked into bed by their respective parents. The illustrations are sure to delight as familiar household items figure in the skirmish. When rather traditional mouse parents tuck in their wee child, observant readers will enjoy the sponge-and-crayon bed and cork hobbyhorse. The music and words to all of the verses are included on the last page. Any library with Trapani fans will want a copy of Shoo Fly and those who haven't tried her previous adaptations could start with this one.-Jody McCoy, The Bush School, Seattle, WA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

This is the eighth of Iza Trapani's popular series. Other titles include the best-selling Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. She lives in the Hudson valley of New York.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580890520
• ISBN-13: 978-1580890526
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,474,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In 1961, when I was seven years old, my mother and I came to America. My father, sister, brother and paternal grandmother all stayed behind in the tiny apartment in Warsaw, Poland where the six of us had lived. Under Communist rule entire families were prohibited from traveling abroad so my mother took me, the youngest, hoping to bring the rest of the family over soon thereafter. Tragically, she died before fulfilling her dream. My father died a few years later. Due to extenuating circumstances I was unable to return to Poland and twenty-seven years passed before I was reunited with my siblings. I spent three and a half years in a Catholic Children's Home and then, after completing High School, moved to the Hudson River Valley in upstate New York.
In the ensuing years I worked as a nanny, short-order cook and waitress while studying Art at the State University in New Paltz. After graduation I worked in various capacities - as a rock climbing guide, real estate broker, caterer and freelance illustrator. But all along I had one dream - a dream I held onto since I was a child - to make picture books. My portfolio bulged with art for children and I just hoped for that lucky break.
The break came one day in 1990 as I rode my mountain bike and a turtle crossed the trail in front of me. The serendipitous encounter inspired a poem which led to the publication of my first book, What Am I? An Animal Guessing Game.
My career blossomed with the release of The Itsy Bitsy Spider, an extension of the original rhyme, which is still going strong after an amazing nineteen years. Positive response from early educators encouraged me to retell and illustrate more nursery rhymes, and I am delighted that my books are used in schools nationwide and abroad.
I have always loved children's literature - from the wacky brilliance of Dr. Seuss to the timeless, love-filled classics of Margaret Wise Brown and a slew of others in between. The combination of engaging text and enchanting illustrations has always been an irresistible package, fascinating me all my life. As a child I spent hours immersed in the magical world of picture books. As an adult I try to re-create some of that magic for others to enjoy.
Looking back on my childhood in Poland, I feel that I owe my family gratitude for fostering a creative environment in our home and for instilling in me a love for books, language, art and music. For the brief time that I knew my parents their encouragement left a lasting impression and contributed greatly to the realization of my lifelong dream.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great for bug phobias!, November 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Shoo Fly! (Hardcover)

My daughter is 5 and autistic. She has major bug phobias and panics when a fly is around. As you can imagine, that is often and there is no peace until the fly/bug is gone. After reading this book over and over, she is still afraid of bugs, but tells them to "shoo fly" and you can see she feels stronger with these words. There's no more panic or screaming. I am so glad to have found this book for her and what a relief for me too. She also laughs and thinks its funny. Love it!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Shoo Fly" is a great children's book, December 7, 2000

By 

Brittany Durham (Clemson, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shoo Fly! (Hardcover)

As an Early Childhood Education major at Clemson University, I was given the task to review this book for my Children's Literature class. This picture book, written and illustrated by Iza Trapani, is a playful account of a song that everyone is familiar with, Shoo Fly. By the use of many characteristics such as language, illustrations, and overall appeal to young readers, Trapani has written a book that is very marketable for success. First of all, the language in Shoo Fly! is developed throughout the book as being like that of a "sing song" tone. The words are simple and can be easily comprehended. They also flow together being that they are written in a form of meter. An example of this is, "I think the coast is clear - no more buzzing in my ear." It is very important for a young reader to be able to easily grasp what is being presented in any book. North quotes Dorothy Butler in her article as saying, "If children are to love poetry later, they need to discover early the satisfaction, which comes from experiencing form in language." This holds true with Trapani's work because she captures the attention of the readers with her use of fluid language and the form in which she writes. Another facet of the book that allows for comprehension and peaked interest is the illustrations. Trapani uses very vivid colors to depict background scenes where the main character, a mouse, is bothered by a pesky fly that is plaguing him. The images have very soft color schemes and are rounded. These round images allow the reader to have a better grasp of the playful tone of the book. North states in her article that it has been proven that children who are introduced to books in their preschool years, the assumed audience for Shoo Fly!, have a greater advantage than those children who do not have such a literary background. In order to capture the attention of an age group such as that a book must be pleasing and of interest. Trapani succeeds in this manner with the way in which she presents her work. Most importantly, Shoo Fly! does indeed appeal to young readers. This book was taken to a community center and read to children of a preschool age. They enjoyed it and seemed to comprehend what was being said. As North cited, children need to be introduced to these literary works at a young age so that they can further their intellectual base as they get older. Books such as Trapani's help in this quest because in order to introduce the literature to children, such as preschoolers, you must first capture their attention. Through language, illustrations, and overall appeal, Iza Trapani has written a very successful book. She has picked out what appeals to children and elaborated on those areas throughout her work. Attention can be easily given to book that provides humor and effect to adults, but many things have to go into the process of gaining the interest of a child. Shoo Fly! Exemplifies Sue North's principles of introducing books at an early age will benefit the children later.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, September 20, 2006

By 

Military Brat - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shoo Fly! (Hardcover)

My 2 1/2-year-old daughter really likes this book. We've read it numerous times, and she doesn't get tired of it. All of the pages are written to the song "Shoo, Fly! Don't Bother Me." A fly is bothering the mouse, who tries everything from telling it to go away, to hiding from it, to spraying it with water. In the end, the mouse goes to bed exhausted. The pictures are funny and cute. My 6-year-old has fun "singing" the words to the book.