Hi! Fly Guy

Hi, Fly Guy! (Fly Guy #1)

Tedd Arnold (Illustrator)

Though I work in a bookstore, I discovered 1 2 3 when my brother gave it to my one-year-old daughter with the intention of helping her learn to count. At first glance I thought it was a nice counting book with beautiful illustrations. Once we read it a couple times, though, I began to notice details I had missed that made reading this book so much more than reciting numbers.

Each page represents a number and also offers delightful hidden surprises. The number six, for example, stars Hansel and Gretel and six shiny sweets, six lollipops outside the witch’s house, six mushrooms in the yard, six white birds, and six cats sulking about. Every page is a scavenger hunt with tons of little details tucked into the nooks and crannies of the illustrations that reinforce that page’s number. Children (and their parents) will enjoy recognizing characters they know well, with spreads depicting scenes from fairy tales from Sleeping Beauty and Jack and the Beanstalk to The Red Shoes and Little Red Riding Hood. There are often characters from other stories slipped into the background, foreshadowing their dedicated page to come. If you look out the window of the Gingerbread Man’s kitchen, for example, you will see Jack’s beanstalk off in the distance and the Ugly Duckling’s pond on the horizon.

This is one counting book I won’t mind reading over and over because I find new details each time we read it. My daughter, at one, is captivated by the illustrations. She loves pointing out the different animals and details. I can only imagine that as she gets older, she will love the treasure-hunt aspects this book offers even more than I do. I think it will help make counting and learning math a lot of fun for her!

Format

Hardcover

Also available from:

CRITICS HAVE SAID

Suitably wacky cartoon art accompanies the text, which is simple enough for beginning readers ready to soar to a chapter-book format. – Publishers Weekly

Arnold’s amusing flight of fancy is illustrated with plenty of humor. – Children

Readers drawn by the flashy foil cover will stick around to applaud this unusually capable critter. – Kirkus Reviews

IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:

Arnold, Tedd. Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name. Scholastic, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0590109949

Arnold, Tedd. Even More Parts. Dial, 2004. ISBN-10: 0803729383

Arnold, Tedd. More Parts. Dial, 2001. ISBN-13: 978-0142501498

Arnold, Tedd. No Jumping on the Bed. Dial, 1987. ISBN-13: 978-0803700383

Arnold, Tedd. No More Water In the Tub! Dial, 1995. ISBN-13: 978-0140564303

Arnold, Tedd. Parts. Dial, 1997. ISBN-13: 978-0140565331

Arnold, Tedd. Super Fly Guy. Scholastic/Cartwheel, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-0439639040

Arnold, Tedd. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy. Scholastic/Cartwheel, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0439639064

Arnold, Tedd. Fly High, Fly Guy. Scholastic/Cartwheel, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0545007221

Aylesworth, Jim. Old Black Fly. Henry Holt, 1992. ISBN-13: 978-0805039245

Hoose, Phillip M., and Hannah Hoose. Hey, Little Ant. Tricycle, 1998. ISBN-13: 978-1883672546

Jorgensen, Gail. Gotcha. Scholastic, 1997. ISBN-13: 978-0439365406

Karas, G. Brian. I Know an Old Lady. Scholastic, 1984. ISBN-13: 978-0316931274

Peters, Lisa Westberg. When the Fly Flew In. Dial, 1994. ISBN-13: 978-0803714311

Taback, Simms. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. Viking, 1997. ISBN-13: 978-0859531344