Poor Gecko can’t get any sleep because the fireflies won’t stop blinking their lights “on and off . . . on and off . . . .” Gecko insists that Elephant, as village boss, must make them stop. So Elephant talks to the fireflies, who explain that they flash their lights so that no one steps in the poop that Buffalo leaves all over the road. Then he talks to Buffalo, who explains that he leaves the poop to fill the holes that Rain washes into the road each afternoon. Then he talks to Rain . . . It is only when Elephant traces the cause-and-effect chain to Gecko’s stomach (without Rain, the mosquitoes that Gecko eats would die) that Gecko understands how everything in the world is connected. “Some things you just have to put up with.” Margaret Read MacDonald’s lively retelling of a Balinese folktale features a cast of amusing characters that illustrator Geraldo Valrio paints against the rich blue backdrop of a nighttime sky. (Ages 5–8)