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Fly Guy #2
Super Fly Guy
FLY GUY
is off to school.
Will he make trouble?
Or will he save the day?
Will he make trouble?
Or will he save the day?
32 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2006
83 people are currently reading
1050 people want to read
About the author
Tedd Arnold
199 books295 followersTedd grew up with three brothers. His family lived on a farm in Pennsylvania for several years then returned to Elmira until Tedd was ten years old. His father's work then required that they move to Gainesville, Florida. There, Tedd's first art lessons in an abandoned dentist's office over the Happy Hour pool hall eventually led to a fine arts degree from the University of Florida.
He and his wife, Carol, started their family in Tallahassee where Tedd worked as a commercial illustrator. Carol, a kindergarten teacher, drew Tedd's attention to children's books. Their first son, Walter, inspired his breakthrough picture book, NO JUMPING ON THE BED!.
He and his family now live in Elmira. His second son, William, now stars in NO MORE WATER IN THE TUB!, a sequel to his first book. He has now published over 50 books as author and illustrator.
He and his wife, Carol, started their family in Tallahassee where Tedd worked as a commercial illustrator. Carol, a kindergarten teacher, drew Tedd's attention to children's books. Their first son, Walter, inspired his breakthrough picture book, NO JUMPING ON THE BED!.
He and his family now live in Elmira. His second son, William, now stars in NO MORE WATER IN THE TUB!, a sequel to his first book. He has now published over 50 books as author and illustrator.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
September 17, 2019
Superheroes are just what Neo likes to read about...
Fly Guy is back and he's ready for a new adventure. When Buzz takes Fly Guy to school, it's fun for all. Fly Guy takes a special liking to the lunch room, where he is treated to a special snack. However, his being around causes the principal much grief and the lunch lady loses her job. With a new hire in place, the lunch room lacks its pizzazz, replaced with a constant smell of burst food. Fly Guy must act soon, or everyone's in for a painful culinary experience. Neo liked the piece, as well continue to push through the series. Lots of great ideas with simple writing that is sure to entice the new reader to give them a try.
Fly Guy is back and he's ready for a new adventure. When Buzz takes Fly Guy to school, it's fun for all. Fly Guy takes a special liking to the lunch room, where he is treated to a special snack. However, his being around causes the principal much grief and the lunch lady loses her job. With a new hire in place, the lunch room lacks its pizzazz, replaced with a constant smell of burst food. Fly Guy must act soon, or everyone's in for a painful culinary experience. Neo liked the piece, as well continue to push through the series. Lots of great ideas with simple writing that is sure to entice the new reader to give them a try.
October 11, 2025
A Critical Reappraisal of Super Fly Guy, by Tedd Arnold: Toward a Semiotics of the Anthropo-Entomological Hero
Tedd Arnold’s Super Fly Guy (2005), ostensibly a text for emergent readers, rewards close hermeneutic scrutiny far beyond its ostensible pedagogical remit. At first glance, the narrative’s superficial whimsy—the tale of a sentient flying insect navigating the fraught sociocultural ecosystem of a primary school—appears merely didactic. Yet upon sustained exegesis, Super Fly Guy reveals itself as a cunningly intertextual meditation on alterity, embodiment, and the destabilization of normative species boundaries within late-capitalism.
Arnold’s prose, deceptively minimalist, is in fact imbued with a quasi-Brechtian estrangement effect. The text persistently foregrounds its own artifice through onomatopoeic incursions (“Buzz!” “Yum!”), thereby subverting the reader’s naïve mimetic expectations. The eponymous protagonist—an insect who both inhabits and transcends his zoological category—operates as a postmodern avatar of the trickster archetype, negotiating the liminal zone between verminous abjection and anthropocentric valorization. Indeed, Fly Guy’s heroic interventions within the institutional microcosm of “school” can be productively read as a critique of bureaucratic hierarchies and disciplinary epistemologies, à la Foucault’s Surveiller et punir.
The narrative arc, ostensibly comedic, enacts a dialectical tension between the carnivalesque and the hygienic. The motif of the cafeteria—an ostensibly banal locus of alimentary exchange—functions as a Bakhtinian chronotope wherein ingestion and expulsion merge symbolically. That Fly Guy forms an affective bond with the cafeteria lady, a figure both maternal and proletarian, signals Arnold’s latent critique of neoliberal labor precarity and the erasure of the feminine domestic subject.
Visually, Arnold’s illustrations perform a vital semiotic labor. The exaggerated ocular morphology of his characters bespeaks a hyperreal affective economy in which perception itself becomes grotesquely magnified. The interplay of line and chromatic saturation achieves a quasi-expressionist intensity reminiscent of Grosz or Klee, thus situating the work within a broader genealogy of visual modernism.
In conclusion, Super Fly Guy must be apprehended not as a mere juvenile diversion but as a subversive text that interrogates the ontological boundaries of “the human.” Through its entomological protagonist, Arnold enacts a deconstructive gesture that both celebrates and problematizes subjectivity, consumption, and social order. One might even say that in Super Fly Guy, the buzz of the ordinary becomes the hum of the sublime.
Tedd Arnold’s Super Fly Guy (2005), ostensibly a text for emergent readers, rewards close hermeneutic scrutiny far beyond its ostensible pedagogical remit. At first glance, the narrative’s superficial whimsy—the tale of a sentient flying insect navigating the fraught sociocultural ecosystem of a primary school—appears merely didactic. Yet upon sustained exegesis, Super Fly Guy reveals itself as a cunningly intertextual meditation on alterity, embodiment, and the destabilization of normative species boundaries within late-capitalism.
Arnold’s prose, deceptively minimalist, is in fact imbued with a quasi-Brechtian estrangement effect. The text persistently foregrounds its own artifice through onomatopoeic incursions (“Buzz!” “Yum!”), thereby subverting the reader’s naïve mimetic expectations. The eponymous protagonist—an insect who both inhabits and transcends his zoological category—operates as a postmodern avatar of the trickster archetype, negotiating the liminal zone between verminous abjection and anthropocentric valorization. Indeed, Fly Guy’s heroic interventions within the institutional microcosm of “school” can be productively read as a critique of bureaucratic hierarchies and disciplinary epistemologies, à la Foucault’s Surveiller et punir.
The narrative arc, ostensibly comedic, enacts a dialectical tension between the carnivalesque and the hygienic. The motif of the cafeteria—an ostensibly banal locus of alimentary exchange—functions as a Bakhtinian chronotope wherein ingestion and expulsion merge symbolically. That Fly Guy forms an affective bond with the cafeteria lady, a figure both maternal and proletarian, signals Arnold’s latent critique of neoliberal labor precarity and the erasure of the feminine domestic subject.
Visually, Arnold’s illustrations perform a vital semiotic labor. The exaggerated ocular morphology of his characters bespeaks a hyperreal affective economy in which perception itself becomes grotesquely magnified. The interplay of line and chromatic saturation achieves a quasi-expressionist intensity reminiscent of Grosz or Klee, thus situating the work within a broader genealogy of visual modernism.
In conclusion, Super Fly Guy must be apprehended not as a mere juvenile diversion but as a subversive text that interrogates the ontological boundaries of “the human.” Through its entomological protagonist, Arnold enacts a deconstructive gesture that both celebrates and problematizes subjectivity, consumption, and social order. One might even say that in Super Fly Guy, the buzz of the ordinary becomes the hum of the sublime.
September 22, 2022
If you are one of those readers that is always interested in fictional stories in Spanish about a pet fly visiting a school's lunchroom on a regular basis, then "Superhombre Mosca" is the book for you!
August 31, 2015
*Just to let y'all know it didn't take me this long to read this I just forgot to update it!! Haha XP*
May 5, 2019
I think this may be the shortest chapter book I've ever read! Three chapters, and just over thirty pages in total. It's a quick read, that's for sure!
I couldn't get the first book from the library (typical) but they had the second one, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not sure if I'm sold on the premise of a boy having a pet fly (flies don't live very long, do they?) but the pictures are kind of funny and the whole situation in the story is kind of gross... so kids will probably like it.
Buzz (the boy) takes his friend Fly Guy (a fly... obviously) to school with him. There, Fly Guy develops a sort of romance with the lunch lady, Roz. But when Roz's boss sees that she's allowed a fly into the kitchen, he fires her and replaces her with Miss Muzzle, whose culinary expertise extends to making burnt peas and turnips. So Buzz and Fly Guy concoct a plan to get a rise out of Miss Muzzle. She flips out and tries to swat Fly Guy, but in the process pretty much destroys the kitchen. The boss fires her and gives Roz her old job back. Everyone is happy.
There's not much story here, really, but because of the way the book is divided into chapters, it kind of seems like there's more than there is. I think the pictures are my favourite part of this, though. They're cartoonish and silly... but, then again, this is a story about a fly falling in love with the lunch lady.
This would be a great book for early or reluctant readers. Although, if you're grossed out by the idea of flies landing on your food, you might want to think twice before picking this one up!
I couldn't get the first book from the library (typical) but they had the second one, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not sure if I'm sold on the premise of a boy having a pet fly (flies don't live very long, do they?) but the pictures are kind of funny and the whole situation in the story is kind of gross... so kids will probably like it.
Buzz (the boy) takes his friend Fly Guy (a fly... obviously) to school with him. There, Fly Guy develops a sort of romance with the lunch lady, Roz. But when Roz's boss sees that she's allowed a fly into the kitchen, he fires her and replaces her with Miss Muzzle, whose culinary expertise extends to making burnt peas and turnips. So Buzz and Fly Guy concoct a plan to get a rise out of Miss Muzzle. She flips out and tries to swat Fly Guy, but in the process pretty much destroys the kitchen. The boss fires her and gives Roz her old job back. Everyone is happy.
There's not much story here, really, but because of the way the book is divided into chapters, it kind of seems like there's more than there is. I think the pictures are my favourite part of this, though. They're cartoonish and silly... but, then again, this is a story about a fly falling in love with the lunch lady.
This would be a great book for early or reluctant readers. Although, if you're grossed out by the idea of flies landing on your food, you might want to think twice before picking this one up!
July 21, 2021
My wife picked up some books for our grandson, who has just turned two. Of course, I had to read some of them. This was a cute little work for young readers, about a fly who goes to school and causes some trouble. Pretty funny.
November 16, 2017
My kindergartener LOVES the Fly Guy books! Every week on library day, she only has eyes for Fly Guy.
June 11, 2008
The text was pretty lame as was the entire story line. However, I could see how kids would enjoy it and think it was funny. Very flashy, attractive cover.
July 23, 2015
Super cute story, and a great book for children who are learning those Z sounds!
September 17, 2015
The story is fictional and I do not like the fictional, and the pictures are not beautiful. However, I like the meaning of the story.
August 10, 2023
I am visiting my young nieces and nephews in Norman, OK. We went to their phenomenal public library which has a huge selection of children's books and terrific hands-on activities. They selected 40 books and we have been reading many books every day. I love how much they love to read!
Super Fly Guy was one of their selections. What I loved about the book were the illustrations, storyline, and the use of the letter "z" in so many of the names and throughout the book. The words and dialogue are well done for a Level 2 reader.
What I was unsure of was that two characters are fired. My young audience (luckily) wasn't familiar with the concept of being fired.
Super Fly Guy was one of their selections. What I loved about the book were the illustrations, storyline, and the use of the letter "z" in so many of the names and throughout the book. The words and dialogue are well done for a Level 2 reader.
What I was unsure of was that two characters are fired. My young audience (luckily) wasn't familiar with the concept of being fired.
March 21, 2022
Super Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold was an easy to read chapter book. I would recommend this book to younger children who are wanting to start getting into chapter books! This is an easy book to transition from picture books to chapter book because still has great, bright illustrations to help! It only has about 3 chapters. The book was about a fly named Fly Guy and he goes to school with Buzz. Fly Guy loved the lunchroom and the lunch lady Roza, but unfortunately Roza gets fired so a new lunch lady comes along, Miss Muzzel and she is not so nice. Miss Muzzel made such a big mess after trying to kill Fly Guy, so Roz came back! Great happy ending.
July 21, 2020
Rozzz!
Miss is really enjoying the Fly Guy series of books and will have a go at some of the often repeated words like "fly guy" and "buzz". She likes the often slightly gross pictures of what Fly Guy likes to eat. This edition has plenty of gross food pictures as Buzz and Fly Guy try to 'help' the lunch lady.
Miss 5 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
Miss is really enjoying the Fly Guy series of books and will have a go at some of the often repeated words like "fly guy" and "buzz". She likes the often slightly gross pictures of what Fly Guy likes to eat. This edition has plenty of gross food pictures as Buzz and Fly Guy try to 'help' the lunch lady.
Miss 5 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
November 3, 2021
This series is great for young readers learning to read more fluently or get into chapter books! FlyGuy is the pet fly of a young boy. In this specific book the boy, Buzz, and Fly Guy take on a day at school learning about reading, art, and going to lunch! Fly Guy befriended the lunch lady. Unfortunately, the lunch lady got fired due to there being flies in the lunchroom. Buzz, Fly Guy, and the students try to enjoy the cooking of the new lunch lady, but it was nothing like Roz's. This book is perfect for using in lessons and will allow the students to enjoy a funny great book series!
October 21, 2020
Fly Guy is a very likable character and he has many similar experiences that students will have at school, with some specific twists that are only related to Fly Guy being a fly. I see students relating to his character and laughing at some of the mishaps he gets into. The illustrations are also very well done because when you look closely, they are made up of scribbles but they still are very appealing to the eye.
August 23, 2021
I wanna add this to my library to share with my niece and nephews and I found some of these books on YouTube so now I'm going through them in order as much as I can to see what they're like.
This one was my 2nd book, of course, but not as great as the first one. I enjoyed it, though. I think I can recommend this series to kids. Seems like the type of book a child would like to read. I think an 8 year old can manage these words fine, depending on the kid reading it.
This one was my 2nd book, of course, but not as great as the first one. I enjoyed it, though. I think I can recommend this series to kids. Seems like the type of book a child would like to read. I think an 8 year old can manage these words fine, depending on the kid reading it.
December 11, 2024
Basically yeah I read all the books in elementary school they’re all 5 starts def would read again such a complex piece of literature that cannot be simply understood. Fly guy is a deep complex character and I relate profoundly with him. Very detailed amazing writing absolutely stellar nothing like it. Don’t read any other classics like little women or 1984 when you could pick up this true masterpiece and classic. 10/10 magnificent. Any other book is simply a waste of time compared to this.
December 18, 2021
I liked that Fly Guy got to experience school. that part of the book was cute. I don't really get why it's called "Super Fly Guy" as I was definitely expecting more superhero-ness in the book. I think the plot of this one isn't as strong as number one but I do love how Fly Guy is the smartest fly ever :)
May 31, 2017
My nephews really loved this chapter book. It was their first chapter book and we read it a few more times than I would have cared for. I give it a 3 because they liked it so much, not because I personally found it that great.
September 20, 2017
This definitely isn't a book I would read again, nor did the illustrations catch my eye. This is a simply, silly story with a little bit of repetition. This is one for younger children who may even be able to learn a little bit about flies.
January 7, 2019
Buzz and his pet fly, Fly Guy go to school, and discovers that Roz, the lunch lady has been fired for feeding Fly Guy chicken bones and fish heads in sour milk. Buzz, and Fly Guy come up with a plan to get Roz her job back, and rid of her replacement Miss Muzzle.
June 25, 2019
My little godson says, 'I love "Fly Guy" books! Most of all, I love "Super Fly Guy," because I like the part when the lunch lady was swinging her swatter and she got fired and Roz came back and everybody was happy again.' :) (he's eight)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2023
Roz is a boxer lunch lady, but she gets fired because she allows Fly Guy to be in the cafeteria. Then the school gets stuck with Miss Muzzle. Fly Guy saves the day, and lunch. One of the better books of the series.
March 1, 2017
The lunch girl named Roz gave Fly Guy some stinky, lumpy, gross lunch. I loved it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2017
I really liked Super Fly Guy because it was about helping others, and I really like helping others, especially my family, whom I love very much.
September 13, 2017
A short children's book about a boy, his pet fly, and some garbage soup!
September 27, 2017
this is a great book to have in class, the illustrations are funny and appealing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews