Revenge on the Fly

Gr 5 Up—If readers can stomach the grisly notion of flies being annihilated by the thousands, and several more raised for slaughter, then McNicoll's novel offers a unique and unconventional view of the fight against disease plaguing the world at the beginning of the 20th century. It is the summer of 1912, and 12-year-old immigrant Will Alton has moved to Hamilton, Ontario with his father, where the local school sponsors a fly-catching contest to help rid the city of the ominous disease that is taking the lives of millions, young and old. Will yearns to avenge the lives of his mother and baby sister, prompting him to attempt to catch and kill more flies than all of the other participants. He must also grapple with an equally powerful urge to beat a rival competitor from school who cheats to win. Those who relish the notion of smashing, squashing, and swatting bugs should appreciate this novel in the same outrageous way as Thomas Rockwell's How to Eat Fried Worms(Random, 1973). McNicoll, however, fuels the gross factor even more with graphic descriptions of the fly's attraction to excrement and defecation on the same food eaten by people. This adds some scientific basis to the story, coupled with the fact that there really was a Fly-Swatting Contest in Canada. Ultimately, Will is portrayed as more than just a top-notch bug catcher; he comes to recognize that there is far more to bettering society and saving lives than winning contests. Pair this novel with Makiia Lucier's A Death-Struck Year (Houghton Harcourt, 2014) for more in-depth knowledge about the fight against rampant disease.—Etta Anton, Yeshiva of Central Queens, NY