Review: Magical!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 4, 2013
by Laura Masciarelli author ofQuestGabriel is a lonely, apparently friendless boy who lives in New York City.  His outer world is comprised of video games and his inner world is inhabited by video game characters.  His busy, uninvolved parents send him for the summer to his grandparents' house, located in Smalltown, USA.  He makes friends with the kids in the town and slowly withdraws from his obsession with video games and begins to live real life.This is a sweet, lovely story of friendship.  The kids are funny, engaging and are well-characterized. I connected with them and felt that the author really nailed the voice of a young teen. The tale involves suspense as Gabriel and his new friends explore the secret held in the local spooky house. The interest level was high and kept me turning the pages.In the course of Fireflies, the author brings up another well-known middle reader, Bridge to Terabithia, which is why I feel comfortable drawing comparisons between the two works in my review.  I didn't like Bridge to Terabithia-it brought me to a sad state, with an overlay of angst and incredible guilt, right along with the characters in the book.  Books evoke emotions-if it's a well written book, it's almost as if you are experiencing what the characters are experiencing.  I know my philosophy about writing is unconventional but here goes:  in whatever you decide to put on this earth, your relationships, your words, whatever you create, including books, you can decide to write something wonderful, and uplifting or you can strive to evoke negativity in your readers.Although Fireflies is a somewhat similar story to Bridge to Terabithia, it contained none of the guilt and angst of Bridge..., and I liked it very much.  It was warm, loving and had moments of wonder in it.What I liked about Fireflies: Good story!  The interactions between the friends were kind but also included a good amount of playful banter.What I did not like:  Some aspects of the story were very black and white, i.e. whereas the city is a lonely place with nothing to do except play video games, the country is fun and everyone is friendly (I'm pretty sure kids in rural areas play video games). And, I found it hard to believe that Gabriel's parents would tell him he was going to his grandparents' house for two weeks but then not come to get him, call him, or have any contact with him.Overall: Five stars!  A wonderful, sweet book!