Review: Beyond my expectations!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2011
Flidderbugs is the story of Kriffle, a bug politician and rising heir to his father's position in public affairs in the great tree where all the Flidderbugs live.  The issue on the table, of course, is whether the leaves on their tree have three points, or four.  It's the fundamental question that governs their lives, governs who's in power, governs everything.  Kriffle knows that the leaves have three points, and anyone who thinks otherwise has to just be lying to the populace for nefarious purposes.Hidden in that scuffle, though, is an allegory about fanatical devotion to ideology and about how small difference seem to be big when they're all anyone talks about.  Star-Bellied Sneeches, anyone?  Fargeeta, Kriffle's uneasy ally in this foliage based debacle, puts it elegantly:"Most `bugs are so determined to believe that their tribe alone is right. They're not interested in hearing anything that might contradict that. They would never even consider that the truth is more complicated."Even more serious is the fact that petty disagreements like three points versus four can cause dramatic fallout, because after all, if everyone is sweating the small stuff, then nobody is worried about the big stuff.At a quick 41 pages, this story is refreshing and attention-grabbing. Not quite a comedy, but still funny in that it resonates strongly of real-life scenarios, this is a good one to get people talking.  I can see this being used in a civics class to introduce a variety of topics in a new way, and to take some of the polarization out of these conversations.  After readingDoodlingI came into this story with high expectations, and I definitely wasn't disappointed. Read and enjoy!Overall Grade: A