Lysa Mullady MA

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

I'm sorry the image is so blurry! It's the cover that both NetGalley and Goodreads had. Also, I think the formatting for this one was wonky as well, so the story felt scattered and I had to try and piece the information together.

At the start of the book, Blue is offended because Red didn't invite him somewhere, but we don't see any interactions between the two until the end. Instead we start with a despondent Blue, and no real understanding of why he's upset. His disappointment felt forced, and I'm not sure why he felt the need to lie at all. Yes, his feelings were hurt, but I think his emotions were poorly handled. Was he embarrassed about not being invited? Why did he make up a lie about Yellow?

I believe I understand the point the author was trying to make, but I didn't really like the approach. Blue lied to hide his hurt feelings, and his lie affected others. Even when he's confronted later on, he chooses to lie first before admitting the truth. The other birds involved seemed to escalate the situation, and did nothing to actually advance the story.

Honestly, I don't like the message Three Little Birds sends to children. First, Blue lies and then allows his friends to search out the two birds he lied about. Second, the other birds start telling everyone there is going to be a fight, so a large group gathers to see what's going on. Third, when Red confronts Blue about the lie, he was very aggressive about it.

All of it really rubbed me the wrong way, and I believe Blue's feelings should have been handled differently. We shouldn't want to encourage children to gather an audience for an altercation, and we shouldn't want to promote gossip and rumors, which is essentially what the other birds did.

This review can also be found at Do You Dog-ear? on February 4, 2019.… (más)

I like the idea of this book, but I think it is trying to hard to be too many things. At first it’s a color books about red, yellow, and blue making the world a colorful thing. But then it’s a friendship book, and then a helping others book, and a caring about yourself book. As I said, this book is trying to do too much. The story needs to be paired down, shorter, and better laid out, and the two pages for “Notes” to parents are not necessary. If you have to explain how to use your book, then you have done something wrong.
#BBRC #AtoZ… (más)

Bye Bye Pesky Fly is a cute book to teach children how to deal with situations that frustrate or annoy them. In the story Pig is going about his usual day minding his business when along comes Fly disrupting his peace and comfort. Pig wants to react in a negative way, but when he stops and thinks about it, he realizes that will not work. He considers his possible actions and weighs out the potential consequences of each one before making his decision. Of course there are various options to consider such as aggressive, passive and assertive responses and then shown why assertive behavior is best. Fly then has to decide how he will respond. I like that they show both sides of the situation, and that the action and reaction both have consequences. It is not a hit over the head lesson, in fact, some children may not get it if a discussion does not follow. I really liked the artwork in this children's book. They were soft, colorful, and had me smiling while reading this story with my grandchildren. My granddaughter loved the pig, even though she is a bit young to understand the message, she enjoyed the story. The publisher, Magination Press, generously provided me with a copy of this book to read. The rating, ideas and opinions are my own.… (más)

The lessons in this book are well laid out and well planed. The piggy is enjoying his bright sunshiny day when a fly starts buzzing close and being annoying. He thinks about swatting but, but no he's a pacifist, he thinks about this and thinks about that. He looks at the down side of any action he wants to take before he takes it. I am really impressed how it was done because it does not fell preachy, it feels real. I am a little tired of the the pages in the back telling parents how this book can help. Not all book need that.… (más)