DJ Funkyfoot: Butler for Hire! (DJ Funkyfoot #1)

by Tom Angleberger, Heather Fox (Illustrator)

Overview

A wacky spin-off chapter book series in the world of the Flytrap Files, from New York Times bestselling author Tom Angleberger

Meet DJ Funkyfoot! He’s not actually a DJ—he’s a chihuahua and a butler!

Meet ShrubBaby! She’s an adorable baby shrub with a taste for thrills, fertilizer, and fame.

Finding a butler gig is hard these days, so DJ Funkyfoot takes a job that’s ALMOST like being a butler . . . He becomes a nanny for ShrubBaby!

A nanny might say no to this baby’s whims, but a good butler always says yes. So when adventure calls and ShrubBaby says, “Let’s go!”, DJ Funkyfoot says, “Very good, m’lady, I’ll fetch your stroller.”

Read all the hilarious chapter book series in the Flytrap Files universe:
Inspector Flytrap
Didi Dodo, Future Spy
DJ Funkyfoot

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419747281
Publisher:	Amulet Books
Publication date:	03/30/2021
Series:	The Flytrap Files
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	1,136,031
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.60(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. Heather Fox is an illustrator of stories for children. When she isn’t creating, she’s probably drinking a hot cup of coffee, eating Chinese food, or chasing down her dog (Sir Hugo) who has stolen one of her socks. She lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with her husband (and author!), Jonathan Stutzman.

Editorial Reviews

03/15/2021

Set in the same world as the Flytrap Files, this series starter by Angleberger stars a cast of anthropomorphic mammals, plants, and more. Ever since his previous employer went bankrupt, DJ Funkyfoot, a highly trained Chihuahua butler, has been seeking another position in his dream profession (as a butler, not a DJ, as it happens). So when the services of a nanny (“Close enough!”) are requested, DJ Funkyfoot is overjoyed. He’s left to care for “the Adorable Baby Shrub” ShrubBaby, a thrill-chasing potted plant, and finds himself acquiescing to things previously unimaginable. From driving a pickle relish truck into a pond to partaking in reality TV, the ever-compliant butler is soon in over his head with ShrubBaby’s endless, often messy requests. Nevertheless, Funkyfoot does his best to care for the shrub, reminding her of nap time and fulfilling her every whim despite his hesitations. Fox’s wide-eyed cartoons and comic panels, all in green monochrome coloring, add dynamism to the book’s antics. Younger readers will appreciate the characters’ desires to buck parental expectations and learn the repercussions of always getting what they want in this comedic chapter book. Ages 6–9. Final art not seen by PW. Author’s agent: Caryn Wiseman, Andrea Brown Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

2021-01-12
DJ Funkyfoot—a butler, not a DJ, despite his parents’ wishes—has a chaotic day babysitting.

DJ Funkyfoot is not a hip-hop star, though it’s “a common mistake.” He is, however, currently unemployed and can’t afford to be too picky about what jobs he takes. The anthropomorphic dog (identified as a Chihuahua in prior volumes of the related Inspector Flytrap series) accepts a job as a nanny to “ShrubBaby, the Adorable Baby Shrub,” whose previous 43 nannies have all quit. The problem, as DJ Funkyfoot explains to ShrubBaby, is that it’s a nanny’s job to say no, but a butler’s job to say yes. If a butler’s charge requests, say, to drive a pickle-relish truck into the pond, the butler must agree. Saying yes to ShrubBaby leads DJ Funkyfoot into constant catastrophes. First he’s covered in pickle relish, then in pickle relish and soda, then in pickle relish, soda, and cake frosting, and finally in pickle relish, soda, cake frosting, and slime. Everything they encounter is exciting, extreme, and ultimate. (DJ Funkyfoot and ShrubBaby appear on both Ultimate Disaster Masters Showdown: Extreme and Extreme Cake Bakers Showdown: Ultimate.) Fox’s two-toned cartoon illustrations of huge-eyed plant and animal characters are supplemented by a few pages of nearly wordless comics panels in this first collaboration between author and illustrator. Repetition and cumulative buildups add to the comedy while giving transitioning readers helpful scaffolding.

Silly, messy, fast-paced fun. (Adventure. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews

"Readers will come to admire the dapper dog’s (mostly) unflappable ability to carry on—or, at least, make a hasty exit." —Booklist

From the Publisher

"Readers will come to admire the dapper dog’s (mostly) unflappable ability to carry on—or, at least, make a hasty exit."

Booklist