When I first saw my second grade students reading Fly Guy books a few years ago (and now third grade students), I was a bit....judgmental. "Uh...Jayden. Maybe you could try a harder book...(like 'The Rainbow Stone' from Story Eggs!)"
Terrible. Terrible teaching. Terrible empathy. Terrible HYPOCRISY!
Reading should be fun. We should read what we enjoy. It doesn't matter if it's a comic book (more on this in a later blog when I disagree with myself), or a dictionary, or a book that WE think is too easy.
But the point of this blog post is I Love Fly Guy!
We were lucky to be gifted with a set of Fly Guy books a few weeks ago, and Mikayla (our 3-year old daughter) quickly found them and asked me to read them to her. I was slightly hesitant because I thought - wrongly - that maybe it was too gross for young kids. But once I began reading them, we couldn't get enough of them.
1) They are really quick reads. Even stopping and talking about the illustrations and what's happening in the story, you can finish each book within 5-6 minutes. Perfect for reading 2-3 books at bed time.
2) The first page for each book repeats.
After a few days, Mikayla could read this page by herself, pointing to each word as she said them. Could she read these words if they were isolated on flash cards...?
Mmmmaybe...maybe not. But it's simple enough that she feels like she can read them. She wants to read them. And she's so proud when she reads them to us.
3. Each book has different words or phrases that repeat. Again, this helps kids to recognize words, especially if you use your finger as a guide to show the words while you read.
4. The stories aren't that disgusting, to be honest. There is a squished frog on one page and a bird squawks, "That's MY roadkill!" But....when Mikayla asked why the frog was squished, we talk about how he didn't move out of the road when cars were coming, and he didn't look both ways. She said she doesn't want to be roadkill, so...I guess everything is a teachable moment.
5. The stories are pretty funny and varied. We enjoy them. And - again - they're so short that I don't mind reading the same book several times in a row. Sometimes, with longer books, a voice in my head says, "Again? We just spent 15 minutes reading this book!!!" But, in general, I think both my wife and I are always happy to read Fly Guy books.
Mikayla is 3 years old. These are perfect books for her to learn some sight words.
These are perfect books for Grades 1-3 students who are struggling to master reading fluency. The repetition of words and the way the pages are laid out seem to encourage them to want to read these books.
These are perfect books for all kids. We don't always need to read books that are challenging to us. Sometimes, books can be just simple and fun to read.
I didn't write Fly Guy. I receive nothing for recommending you read this series. But I wholeheartedly recommend you give it a try for younger kids. It's a nice segue into chapter books with a real plot.
If you would like to try one out before buying them, I found an online copy here. Enjoy!