Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Fly Guy #11

Zig Zag: N° 11 - Zig Zag En Voyage

Rate this book
The New York Times-bestselling Fly Guy series goes on an action-packed adventure by boat, train, plane, and beyond!

Dad takes Fly Guy and Buzz for a car ride, but in a funny and wacky turn of events, Fly Guy is blown out of the car window and into a passing truck, where he lands in the driver's mouth! The driver spits him out, and Fly Guy tumbles onto a boat. Fly Guy then winds up on a circus train with an elephant and then an airplane ... and he just misses taking off with a rocket ship!

This easy-to-read adventure concludes with Buzz, Dad, and Fly Guy returning home on a bike. Fly Guy loves RIDEZZZ!

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2012

43 people are currently reading
383 people want to read

About the author

Tedd Arnold

199 books296 followers
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.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
363 (38%)
4 stars
288 (30%)
3 stars
230 (24%)
2 stars
59 (6%)
1 star
15 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
Profile Image for Matt.
4,841 reviews13.1k followers
September 13, 2018
In this short piece, Buzz and Fly Guy are headed out on an adventure with Dad. When a gust of wind knocks Fly Guy out the window, the chase is on to recover him. Buzz and his dad rush through all possible means of transportation to locate Fly Guy, who has many a story to share of his adventures when back on solid ground. While we did not seem to enjoy it the first time around, Neo and I are completely hooked by this book and series now, with its short sentences and wonderful story. Keep the books coming!
Profile Image for Christina.
256 reviews269 followers
June 14, 2016
For grades K-2

Buzz, his dad and Fly Guy go for a drive, but Fly Guy blows out of the window! In a wacky turn of events, he ends up hitching rides in a ton of other ways...on a big rig, a boat, a circus train...even a rocket. All while Buzz and his dad race frantically to save him.

This book is 30 pages long and split into 3 short chapters.

This book was my family's first Fly Guy adventure. My daughter was very girly in her younger days and preferred Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy easy readers, but then she jumped into Magic Tree House books in 1st grade, began to detest pink and never looked back.
My son is fresh out of kindergarten and has been reading for a good chunk of the school year, but hadn't really found a favorite literary character yet. We picked up some Fly Guy books at the library and this is the first he read. He loved it! But the best part for me was seeing the pride he felt at having read his first ever "chapter" book, just like his mom and sister ;)
Profile Image for Zianh.
6 reviews
September 17, 2015
I liked the book because funny However,the picture and color is so good.

Profile Image for Joe Bertelloni.
50 reviews
July 24, 2017
Categories/Genres for this class fulfilled by this book: Fiction, Easy reader

Copyright Date: 2012

Estimate of age level of interest: Kidnergarten - 3rd Grade

Estimate of reading level: 2nd grade

Brief description:
Ride, Fly Guy, Ride tells the story of Fly Guy and his best friend Buzz. When Buzz’s dad offers Buzz and Fly Guy a car ride, Fly Guy is sucked out a window and thus begins his amazing adventure. Going from truck to boat to train to elephant to plane to rocket ship, Buzz and his dad follow closely on the heels of their lost friend. In the end, however, Fly Guy is able to land safely on the ground a bit dazed and Buzz’s dad offer them both a bike ride home.

Identify at least 2 characteristics of this genre and subgenre and discuss how they appear in your book:

Ride, Fly Guy, Ride is an easy reader book for students who are emergent readers. The book offers sentences of growing complexity and vocabulary, but still has heavy support from pictures and illustrations. This book would be an effective bridge to early fluency for students who are looking for a greater challenge, but still find comfort in many of the characteristics of emergent reader books.

This book is also a part of a larger series of Fly Guy books. This characteristic encourages readers to become actively engaged with a single character in many different books. Because one of the most important goals of a school library is to increase student engagement and reading, the Fly Guy offers an easy entrance for early readers. Readers can enjoy the characters antics and anticipate how they will react in new situations. For instance, what will Fly Guy do when he is sucked out of the window of Dad’s moving car? Readers can anticipate Buzz’s reaction and the over the top means through which he and his father chase down their friend Fly Guy.


In what ways and how well does the book as a whole serve its intended audience?
This book serves its audience in two ways. First, as an easy reader, it provides an entertaining story for children who are just learning to read. It also provides them with pictures that will help them to increase their confidence by providing context clues and assuring them that they are understanding the story.

Secondly, as a series book, it ensures that an engaged reader always has a book they can read. It also can have the effect of bringing new readers to the series by giving them a means towards reading for enjoyment.

Awards if any:
None found

Links to published reviews from professional sources e.g. ALA, Booklist, Kirkus, SLJ, etc. if any:

Booklist (March 1, 2012 (Vol. 108, No. 13))
Horn Book Guide (Fall 2012)
Kirkus Reviews (January 1, 2012)





Profile Image for Nicola.
3,639 reviews
July 27, 2020
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 FG accidentally get blown out the window of the car and go on a hilarious adventure as he tries to escape from various moving objects from trains to planes to space rockets.

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.
Profile Image for Jessica.
5,036 reviews4 followers
August 28, 2023
Fly Guy flies out the car window and into a series of different situations and vehicles. Buzz and his dad follow Fly Guy everywhere except for outer space. This was way too far fetched for me. I don't know what parent would be willing to follow a fly all those crazy places. I would say, "Sorry, kiddo, let's get a golden retriever instead."
24 reviews
October 21, 2025
Its a short fun little book. Though I will admit it was the illustrations doing the heavy lifting. Though I have to say said illustrations are very nice and stylized. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at them and it was somewhat exhilerating for lack of a better term to turn the pages over and over real quick to see where Fly Guy ended up next!
Profile Image for Dalia DJ.
161 reviews
August 16, 2017
My daughter is six and is able to read Fly Guy with no problem. She takes her time, uses the pictures in order to figure out the words. The story pulls her and and she reads the whole book in one sitting. Great read.
10.8k reviews29 followers
October 6, 2017
Fly guy and buzz go fro a ride int eh car with dad but Fly guy ends up going out the window. Buzz and his dad try to rescue Fly Guy as he moves from one vehicle to the next. lots of different vehicles. preschool and up
Profile Image for Anthony.
7,256 reviews31 followers
January 7, 2019
What starts out as a ride in the car, with Buzz, and his dad turns into an adventure for Fly Guy when the wind blows him out of the car window. Fly Guy lands in a truck, a motorboat, a circus train, an airplane, and a rocket, with Buzz and his dad in hot pursuit.
Profile Image for Villain E.
4,011 reviews19 followers
December 2, 2023
Fly Guy flies out the window of a moving car to a truck, then to a boat, then to a train and so on. All the while Buzz and his dad try to keep up. I was thinking this didn't look like as much fun as the title implied, but Fly Guy seems pretty happy in the end.
Profile Image for Marcia.
3,794 reviews15 followers
March 17, 2017
A giggle-worthy beginning reader. Fly guy is a hugely popular series with my emergent readers, and this one won't disappoint.
Profile Image for Helen.
Author 7 books276 followers
June 12, 2017
Hilarious string of adventures for Fly Guy and Buzz in an easy-reader book with imaginative illustrations.
100 reviews
December 11, 2018
I’m not a fan of these books. The illustrations are great but I don’t enjoy the writing or stories.
Profile Image for Vivian.
2,397 reviews
January 3, 2019
There's no secret as to why the Fly Guy books are so popular. They are funny, tense, and adventurous. In this case Fly Guy gets side-swiped by nearly every possible mode of transportation.
Profile Image for Drew.
48 reviews
May 17, 2019
Lol!! He got so many rides!! It was so funny! My favorite part was when he got on the rocket ship!
12 reviews3 followers
Read
March 15, 2020
Easy reader for young ones and fun with vehicles for very little ones.
Profile Image for Joy Keil.
607 reviews
November 9, 2020
Hmm....not for us. Haven't read anything else in this series, maybe that makes a difference...
Profile Image for Kurt Fox.
1,283 reviews21 followers
November 18, 2020
My first "Fly guy" to be read. It was filled with easy words and several vehicles, with a _Run, Spot, Run_ vocabulary. I guess it is an ok story, but I was not impressed.
40 reviews1 follower
February 25, 2022
I thought this book was super cute and would appeal to many children. I think the book is super silly and goofy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.