Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Small Readers: Fly Guy and the Alienzz by Tedd Arnold

It's been quite a while since I've actually read a Fly Guy book - I'm usually more busy buying more copies as they fly off the shelves!

This latest adventure makes Fly Guy the star of his own movie! After a brief introduction of Fly Guy and his owner, Buzz, the story begins. Buzz is making a movie - he cuts out backgrounds and draws titles and then sets up his phone for a camera. Fly Guy and Buzz are shown first as puppets on sticks and then, as the story progresses, they morph into themselves as their imagination takes over. They battle with the aliens, finally rescued by Fly Girl. But what about Buzz? The aliens still have him on their ship! Looks like there will have to be another story...

Arnold's familiar illustrations, with huge, bulging eyes, earth tones, and simple shapes will be immediately recognized by readers who have read his other titles. The text is bold and with a font that uses small seraphs. It's an intermediate easy reader for my library, usually recommended to kids in 2nd grade. This one will be more challenging because of the switch in perspectives from the puppets to the actual characters, but kids who have read other Fly Guy titles and have some fluency are likely to pick up the nuances fairly easily.

Verdict: Fly Guy is a pretty basic requirement for any easy reader section - the only question is how many copies you need to purchase.

ISBN: 9780545663182; Published April 2018 by Cartwheel/Scholastic; Purchased 3 copies for the library

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