Fireflies in the Night

Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 1

by Judy Hawes, Ellen Alexander (Illustrator)

Read and find out about fireflies in this colorfully illustrated nonfiction picture book. A warm and approachable introduction to the magical firefly. As a 5-star review puts "The best book around about fireflies. Wonderful story and lovely illustrations, a real keeper!" "Clearly written text [tells of a young girl who] learns some interesting facts about fireflies from her grandfather. Alexander uses richly hued pastels for her illustrations of the young girl, her grandparents' farm, and the creatures of a summer night." (School Library Journal) This is a clear and appealing science book for early elementary age kids, both at home and in the classroom. It's a Level 1 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores introductory concepts perfect for children in the primary grades. The 100+ titles in this leading nonfiction series Top 10 reasons to love Books in this series support the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. Let's-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.

Genres: Picture Books, Science, Childrens, Nature, Kids, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Luisa Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not having grown up with fireflies, and after moving to Tennessee to raise our children, I’ve been on the look out for this book. Glad a copy came my way because my kiddos (ages 4 and almost 2) love it. It’s been a repeat read.

Watch my reel to see what we did after reading this book!

I would highly recommend starting a Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out collection for your littles. Great tools for cultivating learning!

Ages: 4 - 8

Content Considerations: nothing to note.

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[♥♣Mary♦♠ If She So Pleases · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a great find. I was astonished with the correct depiction of Cuba (must be because of the time period the book was created-as people were more informed about Cuba then).

I very much enjoyed it. A very nice story time read. A favourite.
✨✨✨✨✨

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fireflies are wonderful to see on warm summer evenings! In this story a girl is taught about them by her grandfather, and she is able to collect fireflies for light, until bedtime. Nicely illustrated.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautifully vintage. but still relevant. a gem. underrated. a nostalgic look at summer nights, and the fireflies that light them up.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating look at fireflies, complete with instructions on how collect them in a jar and use their light like a lamp. My older two daughters (ages 3 and 5) have enjoyed looking at fireflies outside in the summer months. This book has inspired them to want to try and catch a few this summer and to copy some of the ideas we read about.

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book , but old

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even the adults learned things about fireflies from this book.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Browsing books to give my friends' children as gifts since I won't gift anything I haven't first read myself.

As I've stated in other reviews for this series, it presents a non-fiction topic in a way that is simple enough for a fairly young child to grasp in a way that doesn't feel like you're reading a text book. The caveat is that the topics aren't going to work for every child. In some cases, you'll have to consider the interests of the individual child. In this particular case, you'd have to live somewhere that actually has fireflies, I think, to really engage the child. For instance, I grew up in the northeast U.S. and knew what fireflies were, but since relocating to Florida more than two decades ago, I have not seen so much as a single twinkle of one, so a child growing up here would not really have much context for the book.

[Chelsea Bucci · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little girl sits with her grandparents on her porch at nighttime. They are watching the fireflies in the night sky. Her grandma calls these fireflies "lightening bugs" while her grandpa says they are a form of a beetle. The little girl then continues to talk about the life span of a firefly and when they grow into their wings. She says that they are easy to catch in a lantern. In parts of South America, people group big bundles of fireflies together to use as flashlights during the night. Fireflies light is a special chemical that emits light without heat. This book is a great book to use when discussing life science of animals. Students could write about the life span of fireflies as well as why they are helpful for humans.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great science reader for kids. Tells a lot of fireflies and how people have used them to help light their way out in the jungle and other various ways. Also teaches kids how to observe and interact with fireflies and have fun without harming them.

[Gea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this whole series - Let's Read and Find out Science. Great pictures, interesting story/facts - I learn a lot from these books and so does my son.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kids loved this book. Even I learned more about fireflies than I already knew!

[Hillvan]

670L

[Katy Klein]

The book Fireflies in the Night by Judy Hawes is a nonfiction picture book about the life and anatomy of fireflies. The book follows the story of a young girl visiting her grandparents and they tell her about the life cycle and anatomy of fireflies. The grandfather then helps the little girl catch fireflies and put them in a jar so they can look at them closer. The book ends with the little girl releasing the fireflies back into the wild.
I enjoyed reading this book. It has a very cute story line and cute pictures while also being informative. However, it is very easy to read and should only be used a learning to read book.
I would use this book as a "learning to read" book for younger children since it is a stage one book. I would not keep this in my classroom unless I was teaching preschool, or first grade. However it could also be used for ELL students when they are learning English words.