Sharks

Fly Guy Presents #1

by Tedd Arnold

Fly Guy is buzzzzing on over to the nonfiction genre!

Award-winning author/illustrator Tedd Arnold brings nonfiction to life with the help of his very popular main character, Fly Guy! This engaging nonfiction reader combines the kid-friendly humor of Fly Guy with the high-interest topic of sharks! Fly Guy and Buzz introduce young readers to sharks with straightforward fun facts, humorous asides, and colorful photographs throughout.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Picture Books, Science, Animals, Young Readers, 2nd Grade

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 30, 2013

About the author

Tedd 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.

Reviews

[midnightfaerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My children love the fly guy series. We've read a couple now and they never fail to excite my 6 yr old and my twin 3 yr olds. I find him somewhat disgusting, but then again, I have boys, so they are still asking for more fly guy. It's also a nice break because sometimes these are on audio and I get those for them to listen to while I'm making lunch. I still read other books as well to them, but lately, these are their favorites. Also, some of them are now topic based and very educational which is an added plus in my book. Arnold is quickly becoming a well-known name in our household.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buzz and his pet fly, Fly Guy, demystify the ever-fascinating topic of sharks. Some of the more than 400 types of sharks are introduced, and readers can view great photographs of sharks, their teeth, their denticles, and some of the food they eat. This is a fine introduction to sharks sure to have high reader appeal since there is not a lot of text, and the photos are nifty.

[Mady Dailey]

1. Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale. 2013. HarperCollins Publishers.
2. I chose Clark the Shark as my twin text because the story portrays Clark as being much larger than the rest of the fish. The nonfiction book also talks about the teeth of a shark and how they quickly rip through and swallow their food. In Clark the Shark, he is also seen devouring food without even chewing. The fiction books brings an actual shark to life and goes through some of it's habits and behaviors.
3. Description
4. With these two texts, we would then create a web with different characteristics/behaviors of sharks. The students would use the Clark the Shark story and relate it to the real facts they learned about sharks in coming up with their answers for what sharks look like, how they behave, and other characteristics.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buzz and Fly Guy, two hugely popular characters for beginning readers, visit their local aquarium and learn all about sharks. Kids love the combination of cartoon characters and dialog with clear nonfiction facts and color photographs. When the text explains that sharks don’t have any bones, and their cartilage helps them turn quickly, Fly Guy wonders, “NO BONEZ?”--adding just the right humor for young kids.

[Saffron · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is very funny at the beginning - well at the beginning it starts of with Flyguy and Buzz and as you get deeper in to the book, it more talks about sharks, and they have real pictures of the aquarium and sharks. They have close up pictures and on some of the pages it is like a journal.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Educational easy reader about sharks, with the Fly Guy character to add even more kid appeal. I don't know why every book about sharks has to have that same scary Great White picture on the cover. Sharks do a lot more than just leap out of the water at pieces of steak suspended on cameras.

[Alyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book better than some other shark books out there. It was simple and contained enough information in it about sharks. It never goes way in depth about any shark but it does give a good intro to sharks in general.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice easy read about information on sharks very interesting for the younger grade levels that they will be able to read themselves to learn more on sharks!

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this kind of book were around when I was a kid, I would have read a lot more non-fiction and learned a ton! Really enjoyable read packed with facts.

[Tariah Forbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Tedd Arnold books White house was so amazing👍👍👍 love it keep up the good work

[Lillyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about sharks.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great early reader nonfiction series! Photos, basic facts, and fun cartoon characters!

[Alexandra Topitzes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Level: 2.8

Book Level/ Guided Reading Level: L

Fly Guy Presents: Sharks is an Informational Text book for children that follows a young boy named Buzz (who ”hosts” quite a few other informational texts on an assortment of topics) and his pet fly, Fly Guy, on their explanation of the aquarium, providing simplistic yet interesting facts and high-quality photographs on a wide variety of shark breeds.

This book would understandably be an ideal read aloud for any level of elementary grade during a science unit on ocean life. It could also be a meaningful addition to a text set made available to students during an inquiry based science unit on ocean life. On an individual basis, this would be a great book for a teacher to recommend to a student who shows a high amount of interest in sharks for independent reading. Additionally, this text would also be a good mentor text to demonstrate the writing traits of conventions, organization, ideas and presentation, for students during writing workshop mini lessons. I particularly like how the author provides phonetic pronunciations right within the text of the more difficult content-specific vocabulary.

[Anna Finger]

Nonfiction, informational
Target audience: primary (preK-3)
Paired fiction text: “Clark the Shark” by Bruce Hale
In the fiction text, Clark loves life and gets excited very easily. However, his enthusiasm becomes too much for his friends and soon everyone stops wanting to spend time with him. Clark has to learn that there is a time and a place for everything and how to ‘stay cool’. The nonfiction text takes a look at all of the different types of sharks there are, what they look like, and what they eat. In the story, Clark starts eating everybody’s lunch and the sections in the nonfiction text about how and what sharks eat ties the books together really well. It is also great to read a book about having to use manners and stay calm as well as learn about sharks and see why the other fish might have gotten scared when Clark got rowdy.

[Brittany]

Fly Guy Presents: Sharks- by Tedd Arnold (or any Fly Guy Presents books, kids love them!) (Preschool-3, 540L, Grade 1).
Genre – Informational Text, Science [sharks]
Conventions: Labels, Photographs, Labels, Types of Print, Close-ups

What a neat book and the students really seem to respond to this series. This book specifically does a great job of teaching students about many different aspects of sharks. The authors include everything from types of sharks, to the different teeth sets sharks can have, to scaled close-ups all through the lens of characters named “Fly Guy” and Buzz who go on different field trips together. Scholastic designates this text as a 3rd grade reading level, but can appeal to K-2 grade as well.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the book was a fun way to present information about sharks. It resonated with me as the Fly encouraged Fly Guy to go see the sharks. I was most drawn into the story as each shark's abilities were reviewed. My transaction with the text was the most powerful when Fly Guy and Buzz were talking about the different types of sharks. I will carry with me from this book how the author incorporated a cartoon type character into a book with real pictures of sharks. This created a nice combination of cartoon activity with science material. I would recommend this book to others as it allows the student to learn about sharks with Fly Guy and Buzz. I would use this book in my classroom to extend a lesson about sharks.

[Melynda Moore]

What: This book takes Fly Guy and Buzz through the aquarium to learn about sharks. The pages look as though they are pages in a journal with information written in it and pictures taped to it. When introducing new words it shows the pronunciation such as carnivores- KAR-nih-vorz which is really great for early readers.
So What: Students must be able to use contextual information in order to understand meanings of new words.
Now What: Students can go through this book and find any new words such as carnivore, nocturnal, and luminescence and then use contextual information to find out their meanings.

[Ashley Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sharks discusses all the different things involved in a shark's world. What a shark eats, what it does, all without giving the sharks a bad reputation for being scary. This book shows a lot of up close pictures that kids will love to look at. It really just gives a general rundown of the habitat of a shark and some basic facts about different types.

This was a good book to show the life of a shark without showing the scary side they tend to have at some points.

This would be good to have in a classroom on a bookshelf. I don't know if I would do a lesson over it, but it would be fun to read on the side.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very cool book. It has sharks! Sharks are almost my favorite animal. They are pretty scary but they are still cool.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buzz and Fly Guy take a trip to the aquarium and learn about sharks! Packed full of facts and photos, Buzz and Fly Guy still appear in an illustrated format.

I LOVED the way Fly Guy found a way to turn what he was learning into humorous ZZZZZ-filled responses. This is a great book for classroom use to introduce children to the topic and incite interest, especially if an aquarium field trip is in the near future.

Recommended for PreK-2.

[Sunah Chung · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a non-fiction picture book regarding sharks. Although the book cover reveals typical sharks with teeth, I think contents and illustrations are carried without biased perspectives to Sharks such as scary and fearful animals. As the aim of the book is to deliver the facts to readers, it describes sharks as one of the many animal with various pictures of them. It includes different types of sharks, habitats, something to eat, general features of sharks, as well as baby pups.

[Sara Kay]

Fly Guy Presents Sharks is all about the basics of sharks. This includes their habitats, what they eat, what their teeth are like, and more. There are several real pictures of sharks that kids would enjoy looking at. There are also several little fun facts for the kids and it makes it fun to read nonfiction with fly guy.
I had never read this series until recently, but I enjoy them and think kids do, too.
I think this would be good when doing a unit on the ocean or on sharks in particular.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has fun illustrations, interesting facts (I learned quite a bit about sharks) great photos of different sharks, and phonetic help in parenthesis for difficult words (aquarium). My student loved the book. This is a series with both fiction and non-fiction titles in the series. My student prefers the non-fiction. This was my first exposure to Fly Guy, and I thought it was a great way to provide education. The reader learns with the character.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This NF story doesn't really have a plot (Fly Guy and Buzz go to the aquarium, Fly Guy is scared of sharks until he learns about them, now he's not scared anymore). But, the information presented is great (not too much, not too little) for the intended age group and the pictures are real pictures and entertaining.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my experience, Fly Guy books attract 2nd-3rd grade boys who aren't big readers. How perfect that Arnold is venturing into NF.

Also - sharks can't swim backwards and 2/3 of their brain is used for smelling!

[Diana Pettis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a busy morning of reading for Xander and I. He is at the end of grade 1 and really likes Fly Guy books. This one has a third reading level and is more non-fiction in nature. Great book for introducing information to children. I loved it and so did Xander.

[D'metria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book for learning facts about sharks. This is a great science book that discusses the environment best for shark survival and other fun facts about sharks. This is also a good book for teaching the features of books, such as, table of contents, index, captions, and more.

[Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for the first grader who prefers non fiction! Fly guy introduces the reader to sharks we are all familiar with and the Gremlin Shark that is now our personal favorite. The illustrations are Marvelous and the facts are very easy to understand.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative look into the wide variety of sharks that make up our planet. Exquisite photographs and interesting factoids will delight readers and inspire them to learn more about these amazing creatures.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 5 year old really likes sharks and this was the first Fly Guy book that I have read to him. He really liked it and learned some fun, cool things about sharks that he didn't know, too. Great introduction to non-fiction with this book.