Firefly is the story of a 13, almost 14-year-old girl who had been living in the park across from her mother’s house. Firefly was rarely safe in her home due to her mother’s addiction problems and, therefore, took to the streets. When Firefly is apprehended by a social worker, she is put into the care of her Aunt Gayle who lives in a giant costume warehouse in downtown Toronto. Firefly suddenly has a warm place to sleep, has access to food and hot water and now has to relearn how to feel safe and loved. To help adjust to her new life and school, Firefly begins wearing her Aunt’s costumes to school which give her a sense of strength. As she becomes more confident, Firefly begins making friends and discovers that other kids have suffered like she and they can all learn to heal by being there for each other.
Firefly
Written by Philippa Dowding.
Published in 2021 by DCB/Cormorant Books.
Firefly is a 13 (almost 14) girl dealing with a harsh and unpleasant life.
She has moved into her Aunt Gayle’s house because her mother has an addiction problem to drugs. Oh, and by the way, her Aunt has a gigantic costume store. Firefly finds herself strengthened in those beautiful costumes. Although she is eager to get used to the current situation she finds herself in, the past haunts her memories and is soon to catch up with her. And just because she has a warm place to sleep, actual food, and someone to love and loved by doesn’t mean that she can forget the past. And along the way, she meets friends that support and power her through her recovery. This book is good to read because it has a good story and well-developed characters. The characters’ personalities are very unique and interesting and life-like. This characteristic also promotes the plot, perspective, detail, and storyline of this one-of-a-kind book. And during the book, Firefly definitely grows a lot, both physically and mentally.
Here is an excerpt that demonstrates Firefly’s growth:
“I mean, we should probably talk about a few things. But we’ll go slow, okay? Just what you’re ready to talk about,” Aunt Gayle offers. …
“I’ve been trying to think of what to say. And I think the only thing I want to say right now is you’re welcome here, I want you to know that. I said yes right away when the social worker called last night and asked if you could stay with me.” …
And that’s pretty much how I spend the first night of my new life with Aunt Gayle.
Clean. Fed. Braided. Smoking. Reminded of marshmallows. Sitting in her kitchen. Surrounded by seven million film and television costumes, in an enormous warehouse.
And not at all living with her sister, Joanne-the-mother. My mother.
Or as I call her, Joanne-the-mother-in-the-house-across-the-park”
And for Firefly, what is normal?
Firefly includes heavy topics such as homelessness, poverty, drug addiction, and PTSD. The way the author writes about these topics is in a very gentle and subtle way which encourages the reader to think about these harsh topics in a better way. It also makes you feel strong emotions, which can be a good way to learn, but also a tough way to learn. These emotions allowed us to have deeper connections to the book and experience Firefly’s life events in more depth.
We would recommend this book because it has a good plot and a deep backstory, but the only disappointing part is that it’s a bit boring because the plot development is slow. This book connects to real-world issues and has good messages. It helps readers understand how hard it is to go through family problems. Some of the content in this book is unclear, but the writing style is pretty effective and adds to the book. This book has well-developed characters and a great, casual urban setting.
In conclusion, we think that this book is a great and exciting read because it has a good story and rather well-developed characters. We would suggest this book and we think it has a positive influence on its readers and the world around us.
I liked it quite a bit, but I think the introduction was a little long,and hard to follow.
I love the story in general, though. It is about Firefly,a 14 year old girl who lived with her drunk mom, but then her mom is sent to jail, and Firefly gets sent to her aunt’s house. And she goes to a new school. I rate this book 4 stars.(out of 5)
👍😎
We thought it was a very good book. It was interesting how they went from one part of a story to another part and she finally found the people that were closest to her. We felt bad for Firefly as she did not have the best life- we feel lucky to have the life that we have. The book started out as sad but it kept getting better and better. This is a good book for young people to read and learn about other people’s lifestyles. We rate it 4/5 stars.