Firefly Song – Perfect Picture Book Friday

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The spotlight this week is on a luminous (literally) nonfiction story about a girl who grew up in the Smoky Mountains and became a citizen scientist who proved “trained” scientists wrong.

In a green river valley of the Great Smoky Mountains,
there is a swimming-hole-splashing, bear-watching,
tree-climbing place called Elkmont.

At Elkmont every summer, a girl named Lynn fills
her pockets with treasure, flings herself into dark
crystal waters, and lingers in the light-dappled forest
until the fireflies light her way home.

I’m immediately drawn into the tactile lusciousness of this story, and kids will be, too. For city kids who’ve never known these kinds of magical moments in nature, this book offers up a taste that may lead them to find their way outside, maybe not as kids, but as adults heading out to experience the world on their own. They may become biologists or some other kind of scientist. Or they “just” may become more inclined to protect and preserve the wonders in our world.

Lynn knows nature is full of magic
waiting to be discovered.
You just have to pay attention.
That’s the trick.

And Lynn never stops paying attention. Not even when she
grows up, goes to college, and marries Edgar Faust, the boy
whose family summers over yonder by the old stone bridge.

In addition to appreciation for the natural world, there’s another layer to this story that speaks to both social and emotional learning and STEM. As a child of the great outdoors, Lynn believed in the power of her own observations about a very particular group of fireflies (they flashed in sync!), and took the initiative to find out if her observations had been recorded by others. When she found out they hadn’t, she went on to prove to “trained” scientists that her observations were spot on. And it was a tremendously important discovery: she identified the first group of synchronous fireflies in the Western hemisphere!

But most importantly, she believed in herself and what she knew to be true because of her scientific observations, her empirical evidence that she had meticulously recorded. She didn’t let others dissuade her. Instead, she stuck with it and convinced scientists by presenting her evidence firsthand, becoming a recognized expert who wrote a book about fireflies. Chalk one up for persistence!

The illustrations that feature fireflies “singing” via light and accompanied by onomatopoeia make my own heart sing! But all of the illustrations, created in watercolor and digital art, are exquisite. Also, it’s an interesting choice to keep Lynn looking youthful throughout, even as she becomes a mom. I like that choice. It makes her more relatable to kids.

Back matter includes more about Lynn’s story, how to spot and catch fireflies gently, how to make a firefly-friendly habitat, firefly facts, and additional resources. A terrific book!

Activities:

Go outside to your backyard, park, or nature preserve. Sit quietly and listen. What do you see, hear, and smell? Can you feel the breeze on your skin? What else can you feel. Pick five nouns (things) from your experience and and adjective (or more) describing each one. Using those words you’ve chosen, write a poem about your experience.

Watch this short National Geographic YouTube video about the synchronous fireflies in the Smoky Mountains.

Make a flashing origami firefly using LEDs.

Title: Firefly Song: Lynn Frierson Faust and the Great Smoky Mountain Discovery

Author: Colleen Paeff

Illustrator: Ji-Hyuk Kim

Publisher: Margaret McElderry Books (S&S), 2025

Themes: fireflies, citizen science, nature

Ages: Elementary school

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.