Hi! Fly Guy
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me stage.
Why it fits Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me (for the kindergarten-ready set, between being read to and reading alone)
A boy enters his pet fly in a pet show; chaos and loyalty ensue. Minimal words, maximal plot momentum - reluctant readers accelerate here. The buzz gag (the fly can say 'Buzz') never misses.
What makes it special
Arnold's premise — a fly as a pet with one word of vocabulary — generates comedy from pure economy. The bug-eyed, gross-adjacent art meets young readers exactly at their sense of humor. Minimal words with maximum plot make it the classic gateway for kids who claim they hate reading.
From the publisher
When Buzz captures a fly to enter in The Amazing Pet Show, his parents and the judges tell him that a fly cannot be a pet, but Fly Guy proves them…
About Tedd Arnold
Tedd Arnold writes and illustrates the Fly Guy easy readers, a series of 34 books, and has won three Theodor Seuss Geisel Honors — for Hi! Fly Guy, I Spy Fly Guy and Noodleheads See the Future. He also wrote the picture books Parts and Green Wilma, and lives outside Gainesville, Florida.
Fly Guy began on a car trip, when a fly flew in and buzzed at the windshield: Arnold started drawing it and realised that the one word a fly can say, 'buzz', is also a boy's name. He says many third and fourth graders have told him the Fly Guy books are the first they wanted to read on their own.
Also by this author: Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl! · Hooray for Fly Guy! · Parts
More from “I Can Read This Myself”
This book is part of The Best Books for Beginning Readers: 30 Teacher Picks (Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.