Flight of the Mite

Flight of the Mite tells the tale of a curious little mite who longs to discover the world above her. When her father dismisses her curiosity as child’s play, the little mite sets out to make her dreams of travel a reality by designing contraptions to help her fly. Discouraged by many failed attempts, the mite nearly gives up before an older, wiser mite encourages her not to abandon her dreams of discovery, mentors her, and shows her the best method to get to the larger world – by hanging on to an enormous weed seed as it soars through the air.

This picture book, told entirely in rhyme, tells the ageless story of an imaginative, independent young character with the determination to fulfill her dream. Alana Kyle’s luminous illustrations of the mite’s miniature world and journey into the bigger world complement’s Grayson Smith’s story and will capture the attention of young children. Flight of the Mite, when read aloud by a skilled reader, will contribute to the young reader’s language development by modeling pronunciation and introducing the rhythm of language and poetry.

However, due to the sophistication of the prose, particularly the length of the verse on many pages, it may be difficult to sustain the attention of the young reader as some pages have up to three lengthy verses, many of which overlap with the illustrations, due to the lack of white space, making it difficult to discern.

Flight of the Mite may be too lengthy to maintain the attention of young children; however, when read aloud by an experienced reader who can model rhythm of the verses and pause of the language for effect, beginner or struggling readers may find that this story of resilience and timeless illustrations resonates.