Super Fly vs. Furious Flea small characters, big mutant pun….err fun

Hello young reluctant reader. Super Fly heard your requests for books that are great for grades 2-5 and as equally fun for girls or boys.    The third book from Super Fly author Todd Doodler is Super Fly vs. Furious Flea. It takes the premise established in the first two books and further mixes it up to stoke the curious fires of young readers. Also the simplicity of the book is approachable for kids who haven’t read Super Fly’s other adventures.

Super Fly and Fantastic Flea were just normal bugs named Eugene and Fred. That is until they used one of Eugene’s inventions called the Ultimo 6-9000. That invention is a device that gives users 9,000 times the power, speed and intelligence of a regular bug. The Ultimo 6-9000 is also being disguised as a piece of key lime pie in Eugene’s refrigerator.

Their nemesis for the first two books was Crazy Cockroach. Here he’s still a bad bug, but he’s more of a puppet master, pulling the strings for an evil Furious Flea, bad dung beetles and other insect puns that will have elementary school students laughing in their bed.

The book does a great job of bringing in supporting characters to help Eugene or Super Fly, depending on the time, do what needs to be done. Elle is his sister, she’s Fly Girl. Together they fight smelly villains in Stinkopolis, battle in a diaper and do it all in a way that will hook young readers without grossing out mom and dad.

Fred and Eugene have a fight and Fred then explores a friendship with Crazy Cockroach. His minions join in on the fun and suddenly the gang of four is causing all manner of mayhem in town.  The book does teach a lesson about being true to yourself, respecting you friends, as well as, the fact that everyone has disagreements from time to time.  It’s win/win, kids will love reading the book and adults can rest easy knowing that an actual lesson with good morals is being taught.

Each chapter is between 6-8 pages and has vocabulary that the average second grader will be able to read on their own. There are illustrations on approximately every other page of Super Fly, key lime pie, beetles, bugs or other insects bent on badness.

It’s also amazing just how many puns are in Super Fly vs. Furious Flea. It’s a fun read for adults who are helping their young reader and self-guided readers will understand the vast majority of the puns. For parents who want a more mature read than Captain Underpants they should look at this series. This will easily be one of the go-to book series for elementary school students. Super Fly is a shorter book and is just as silly, but doesn’t have any of the rudeness or intentionally mis-spelled words that bother some parents. Super Fly vs. Furious Flea retails for $15.99, but you can almost certainly find it for half of that by carefully looking around.