About the Preschool Book

"Mama, Sister, Baby, and Gramma chase an old black fly through the house - and the alphabet - as it coughs on the cookies and nibbles on the noodles and pesters the parrot. It'll take a nasty trick to get rid of this old black fly . . . and these are just the folks to think one up!" - From the book jacket

From the Reviewer

Old Black Fly is a surprising twist on the traditional alphabet book. The pesky old black fly is making trouble all over the house and all through the alphabet. He ate the crust on the apple pie and bothered the baby and made her cry. This wonderfully rhythmic story mesmerizes preschoolers and will quickly become a favorite. Alphabet letters are printed in large block letters and are bolded on each page so they easily stand out. Preschoolers can take turns finding the letters of the alphabet as you read through the story.

Sing a Story

Old Black Fly can be sung as well as read. Preschoolers love the change of pace that singing brings to story time. Preschoolers can participate in the story by singing the repeating phrases "Shoo fly! Shoo fly! Shooo." while shaking their finger back and forth.

Innovative Illustrations

Stephen Gammell's wonderful splatter painted illustrations are in a class all their own. They have received some criticism for looking "germy", but they add so much to the story. Bright colors explode on every page as the old black fly causes mayhem all through the house.

A Personal Favorite

Old Black Fly is one of my personal favorites. The unexpected main character, the red eyed, germ ridden, fuzzy black fly, is surprisingly enjoyable. Preschoolers love the crazy things that the old black fly does and he goes through the house. Who hasn't been bothered by a pesky fly that just won't seem to go away? Preschoolers and adults can relate to this crazy tale. The musical rhyme is so much fun to sing with preschoolers and makes this book easy to read over and over again.

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Hi! I'm Rachel Lister, the Preschool Education writer at PreschoolRock.com. I live in Utah with my husband and two beautiful boys. When my oldest son was born, I quit my teaching job and opened a home daycare and preschool. I love to help preschoolers learn about the world around them. They make life interesting and I can't imagine doing anything different. If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, feel free to contact me.

Helpful Tips for Parents

• Learning environments matter. A space with accessible books, puzzles, art supplies, and natural materials at child height encourages more learning than a child-proofed empty room.

• Answer "why" questions fully and honestly. A child who gets real answers to their questions develops deeper curiosity than one whose questions are dismissed or oversimplified.

• Screen learning (educational apps and videos) supplements but never replaces human interaction as a teaching medium. Learning happens most efficiently in social, conversational contexts.

• Curiosity is more valuable than knowledge. A curious child who doesn't know the answer will find it. A knowledgeable child who has lost curiosity will stop learning.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should formal education begin for preschoolers?

Play-based learning is the developmentally appropriate educational mode for children from birth through age 6–7. Formal academic instruction (sitting at desks, worksheets, direct phonics drills) before age 6 consistently produces short-term knowledge gains but long-term motivation losses. The children with the richest preschool play experiences often outperform academically drilled peers by age 8, when the developmental advantage of play-based executive function development becomes apparent in school performance.

How do I know if my preschooler is learning enough at home?

Developmental milestones (not academic benchmarks) are the appropriate assessment tool for preschoolers. Verify your child is meeting age-appropriate milestones for language, motor, social-emotional, and cognitive development using your pediatrician's well-child visit assessments. Preschoolers learning through play, conversation, books, and daily life engagement are learning more than their standardized test scores will later reflect. Concern is warranted if a child shows regression in skills previously mastered, or fails to meet speech and language milestones.

Related reading: See also our writing readiness guide and our alphabet activities for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 📚 Pre-Reading Skills — Activities that involve letters, sounds, rhymes, and print directly build the phonological awareness and letter knowledge that are the two strongest predictors of successful reading development.
• 💬 Vocabulary Expansion — Every new concept, activity, and domain-specific term a child encounters expands their vocabulary — and children's vocabulary at kindergarten entry is the single strongest predictor of reading comprehension at age 10.
• 🎯 Self-Directed Learning — Learning that begins with the child's own question or interest produces the deepest understanding — and children who experience self-directed learning develop the intrinsic motivation that sustains learning throughout life.
• 🌐 World Knowledge — Background knowledge about the world dramatically accelerates reading comprehension — children who know more understand more of what they read — making every content-area learning experience a literacy investment.

From the Preschool Book

"Old black fly's been buzzin' around, buzzin' around, buzzin' around. Old black fly's been buzzin' around, and he's had a very busy bad day."