Inspector Flytrap (Inspector Flytrap Series #1)

by Tom Angleberger, Cece Bell (Illustrator)

Overview

A funny and clever illustrated early chapter book series in the Flytrap Files universe, from New York Times bestselling author Tom Angleberger and Newbery Honor winner Cece Bell!

Meet Inspector Flytrap! He’s a Venus flytrap and world-class solver of BIG DEAL mysteries.

Meet Nina the Goat! She’s a goat and Inspector Flytrap’s trusty assistant—except when she eats the clues!

Together, they’re a great mystery-solving duo! Follow along as they decode a secret message, investigate a stinky shoe, and figure out other big and tasty mysteries.

Read all the hilarious chapter book series in the Flytrap Files universe:

Inspector Flytrap
Inspector Flytrap (#1)
The President’s Mane Is Missing (#2)
The Goat Who Chewed Too Much (#3)

Didi Dodo, Future Spy
Recipe for Disaster (#1)
Robo-Dodo Rumble (#2)
Double-O Dodo (#3)

DJ Funkyfoot
Butler for Hire! (#1)
Give Cheese a Chance (#2)
The Show Must Go Oink (#3)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419709654
Publisher:	Amulet Books
Publication date:	08/02/2016
Series:	The Flytrap Files , #1
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Tom Angleberger is the New York Times bestselling author of the Origami Yoda series and the Flytrap Files series, as well as many other books for kids. He lives with his family in Virginia.


Cece Bell is the author of the Newbery Honor Book and Eisner Award winner El Deafo, which received four starred reviews, was named a 2014 best book by Parents magazine, and is a New York Times bestseller. She is also the author of Rabbit and Robot, winner of a Geisel Honor. Cece lives with her husband, Tom Angleberger, in Christiansburg, Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

The direct storytelling makes the episodic structure engaging but accessible, and the repetition both in the narration and the dialogue (“Big deal” is a common utterance, especially by Nina) gives multiple opportunities to practice decoding skills. Black and white illustrations can be found on nearly every spread, helpfully giving context clues to readers while moving the story along. This will snare transitioning readers like Flytrap snags his lunch.

BCCB

"Generous illustrations spilling across the pages humorously set the mean-streets, noirish scene, complete with beat-up office and Bakelite phone, and Bell manages the challenge of giving a potted plant both personality and verve."

The Horn Book

"Angleberger established his aptitude for finding kids’ funny bones with his Origami Yoda series, and he doesn’t hold back in this wacky new series for elementary schoolers... Running gags and gross-out humor will keep readers in stitches, with Nina acting as “straight goat” to the more animated detective—when she is not eating the evidence, that is. Bell’s cartoonish illustrations appear on almost every page, ramping up the laughs."

Booklist

"Angleberger established his aptitude for finding kids’ funny bones with his Origami Yoda series, and he doesn’t hold back in this wacky new series for elementary schoolers... Running gags and gross-out humor will keep readers in stitches, with Nina acting as “straight goat” to the more animated detective—when she is not eating the evidence, that is. Bell’s cartoonish illustrations appear on almost every page, ramping up the laughs."

Booklist

2016-05-04
Inspector Flytrap is here to solve your "BIG DEAL" mysteries…foolishness in every case file guaranteed.Inspector Flytrap may be a Venus flytrap, but the carnivorous plant is also trying to become the greatest private detective ever grown. Inspector Flytrap lives in a pot and can leave the office only with the help of assistant Nina the Goat, always hungry and frequently unimpressed. She puts the inspector's pot on a skateboard and pushes it around town. Calls come from many of the town's animal denizens, but the inspector spurns small cases. Lulu Emu's request for assistance at the art museum seems important enough to put the inspector on the case—but contrary Nina's fondness for going the wrong way down busy, one-way streets makes for a hair-raising start. At the museum, Lulu takes them to the Top Secret Art Lab, where they are shown the only flower painting Leonardo da Vinci ever painted: there's a mysterious yellow glob stuck to the masterwork. Nina tastes it. And after a few simple questions, the intrepid plant detective solves the explosive (and slightly gross) case. Angleberger and Bell team up for a goofy, easy chapter-book series kickoff. The cases (in addition to the Leonardo enigma, there's a case involving a fetid cookie factory and an AWOL rose) are full of silly characters (and solved with silly solutions), and Bell's ample cartoon line drawings pair perfectly.Three cases and lunch! What more could you need? Happily, Volume 2, The President's Mane Is Missing, publishes simultaneously. (Humor. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews