A Fly Went By

by Mike McClintock, Fritz Siebel (Illustrator)

Illustrated in color. A fly went by, followed by a frog, who's chased by a cat, who's chased by a dog and a host of other frantic characters, in a humorous cumulative tale.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Animals, Poetry, Kids, Classics

65 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 1958

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read this book with my oldest boy, age 5.

I'd read it long ago, and enjoyed it well enough. But today was an entirely different experience, because today we read this book together.

I actually found him sitting in the stairwell flipping through the book on his own. He does this sometimes, when Sarah and I are busy. I love that he loves books. And I love that he looks through them even when he can't make out all the words by himself.

So what makes this a good kid's book?

1. It's a long book.

I read a lot of kid's books these days. And I find it kinda disheartening when I pick up one that's only 16 pages long.

Don't get me wrong. That might be perfect for holding the attention span of a 1 year old, but if you want your kids to be able to concentrate for longer than the span of a superbowl commercial, you might want to consider reading them longer books.

What's more, it's simply not very much bang for your buck.

Also, what would you rather do? Read a 16 page book to a kid 10 times. Or read a 50 page book twice. (Hint, you want the second option.)

2. There is a lot of good word and letter repetition. For kids that are learning to read, this is key. Once they learn to read the word "They" they'll get plenty of chance to practice it.

There's a bunch of similar words with the silent "e." (Make. Came. Take.) And words with the "ea" letter combination. (Fear. Near.) And some tricky but very common words that are almost impossible to sound out. (Would Should Could.)

3. Most importantly. The book is fun. It's got animals and misunderstandings. Surprises. Good illustrations. The action is easy to follow.

So yeah. There's a lot of good reasons that this one's a classic. It's well worth your time and money if you're in the market for a kid's book.

[Arezoo Alipanah · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I was on tiktok and now I had to add this as a *read* book:))
Kudos to Tiktok this time for making me being productive! 😂
یروز تو تیکتاک داشتم میچرخیدم که یه ویدیو ۵ دیقه ای اومد تو فیدم.
یه آقای توانمندی کل این کتابو رپ خونده بود و واقعا طوری مجذوب شدم که کل ۶۵ صفحش رو باهاش پیش رفتم و مگه میشد این کتاب رو تو دسته‌ی خونده هام‌ نذارم؟؟؟:))
https://www.tiktok.com/@jordansimons4...

تاریخ خوانش؟: ۸ آوریل ۲۰۲۳
امتیاز: ۴ از ۵

[Renée Paule · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely little book with lots for children to think about!

[Adham Alif · Rating 4 out of 5]

আমি তখন ছোট। স্থানীয় নির্বাচনের সময় একটা কেন্দ্রের দিকে গিয়েছিলাম খোঁজখবর নিতে। হঠাৎ দেখি যে যার মতো দৌড়াচ্ছে। আমিও দেখাদেখি দৌড় দিলাম। কিছুদূর গিয়ে পাশের একজনকে জিজ্ঞেস করলাম, "দৌড়ানি দিলো কেন?" উনি বললো,"ব্যালট নাকি চুরির চেষ্টা করেছিলো একদল। তাই পুলিশ দৌড়ানি দিয়েছে।" উত্তর শুনে ভাবলাম আমি শালা তাহলে শুধুশুধু ছুটলাম কেন?

ফেসবুকে হঠাৎ এই বইয়ের ভিডিয়ো সামনে পড়ে গেল। প্রথমে ভেবেছিলাম আনবক্সিং ভিডিয়ো বুঝি। পরে দেখলাম ইলাস্ট্রেশন এর সঙ্গে র‍্যাপ সং আকারে পুরোটা পড়ে শোনালো। শুনতে বেশ মজাই লাগলো। এরপর পড়েও ফেললাম। মূলত বাচ্চাদের জন্য আদর্শ হলেও এই বয়সে পড়তেও বেশ লাগলো।

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 1958. Sweet simple pictures with a funny comedy of errors that this little boy unravels. The kids enjoyed this one too. I'm so glad they like these classic books along with the new ones. It's fun to see all these stories again and see them passed down one more generation. Still a pleasing bedtime story.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my very favorite books when I was an early reader. One of the rare ones that I didn’t find at all boring. I enjoyed having it read to me as well.

[⋆.˚ Ariana ᡣ𐭩ྀིྀི · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to it on an Instagram reel

[lena ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

tbh i watched someone on tiktok rapping this book and it felt like an audiobook and it was interesting so it counts as a read

[Alexa Vanmeighem · Rating 2 out of 5]

This rhyming story is about a fly who goes on a long adventure. On his adventure he is followed by many different characters. Each character continues to follow the fly. One day a boy asks the fly where he is off to and the chase begins. Many different animals begin to be involved with the chase. After a while, everyone involved wants to find out who is in the back of the chase. This book is fun because it is a silly story and children will be able to practice their use of rhyme and figurative language while reading this story book. This was not one of my favorite children picture books that I have read. I felt as though the story was a little repetitive and boring at times. This book did not capture my attention as much as other rhyming books I have read. I do not think I would read this book again.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun story that builds upon itself and leads to a funny conclusion. It's a good book for beginning readers, with lots of simple words and a repetitive narrative, but I will caution that it is pretty long. Our youngest did a great job reading it, but she got tired about halfway through, so I took over. It's a fun book to read aloud.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confused this with -- I think -- "Sam and the Firefly" when I was first about to rate this. But I corrected myself in time. ("Are You My Mother" also comes to mind.)

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a favorite of mine when I was a kid. It lived at my Nana's house, and I read it and "Put Me in the Zoo" and "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" every time we visited. I remember looking for it on Amazon.com at one point, but I believe it was out of print. I was superpsyched to get it for Charlotte, even though it's kind of old fashioned and violent compared to what early readers get these days. When Charlotte was tiny, I could read it to her and she liked the rhythm. Nowadays she doesn't want me to read it to her - she'd rather look through it by herself and list all the animals on the pages.

[Danette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of repetition as we discover who is causing all the fearful chases.

5/2/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
5/22/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
6/7/17 Read with Julia.
4/9/18 Read with Julia.
3/23/19 Read with Julia
7/25 Read with Julia, Leila, Levi, and Lucas while camping
2/7/25 Read with Charlotte
4/19/25 Read with Charlotte

[April Scheivelhud · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a classic story of cause and effect. A little boy is relaxing by the lakeside, but all of a sudden a fly went by. The fly was chasing an animal that was chasing another animal, and so on. There is a lot of rhyming and repetition in this story. Very fun story.

[Runa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just watched someone rapping this entire book on tiktok 🥴

[Ikayuro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I, like so many of the other recent reviews, found this book via a gentleman on TikTok who rapped his entire way through the book - a full five minutes of flawless rhyme - and holy hells was I invested. The amazing musical talent aside, this book is a LOT of fun, with clever rhymes and great illustrations that help the flow of the story along. What a fun read!

Thank you to the gentleman on TikTok who breathed new life into this classic!

[Raquel]

me lo lei por tiktok mágico

[Dimitris Karagkounis]

listened to the audiobook:

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJa1BKox/

[Daughter of Paper and Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preface

I haven’t read a single book this month until I accidentally (not so accidentally) binged this video of a guy rapping kids books. I swear I was going to stay for just a bit. I had no interest in a book with a fly….

Somehow I blinked and boom 💥, three minutes had gone by; I was nodding my head walking around organizing the living room. SIGNING ABOUT A FLY, A COW, A TOAD AND I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT NOW.

The book on itself was alright. Nothing extraordinary even by children literature standards. The rapping of the book? 10/10 probably the most fun I have had in a while.

(And yea I did go to his YouTube page and binged all the books as a cleaned, thanks Mr. Jordan Simons for getting me ahead on my reading goal 😂😅😂).

————————————————————————————
RATINGS:

Plot : 2 📚📚 Some.

World Building(Immersion): 3 🌎🌎🌎 Submerged. I listened to the music/audio of the story and boy I WAS INTO IT.

Angst : ❎ No angst.

Funniness: 1.5 🌝💫 Amused.

Scariness: ❎ Not scary.

Romance: ❎ No romance.

Goriness: ❎ No gore.

Sadness: ❎ No sadness.

Overall star rating : 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable but there were somethings that fell flat. (Audio wise I would give it a 5 stars rating).

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone must have read this to me at some point during my childhood, but I honestly don't remember it. This book features a merry chase starting with the world's cutest fly.



I honestly had no idea how it was all going to end!

[Gabi]

Gregg, you got ur story from this! OMG!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my daughter's favorites. We get it from the library time and again!

[Kapra McMichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

-A book about animals being chased by other animals of larger size
-A good rhyming book

[Angel Torres · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a banger! Oh my God! The rhymes in this book are insanely good! Totally recommended!

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

One long chase scene. Silly. And you do have to think that somehow they have to chase each other even though they are running away. But the text is not as repetitive as it could be. And the art basically works. 3.5 of 5

[Michael Kane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not like I saw someone rap it on tiktok or anything. Fantastic read

[Al Ridwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

what in the domino effect

[Xiomara · Rating 5 out of 5]

WILD!!

[Will Glathar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can rap this

[RandomReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened the story in the rap form which was really incredible! I also liked the ending of the story.