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kalb924's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. Man, Dav Pilkey really gets kids and their humor. Added a half star for the surprising amount of sweetness in the story.
peyton_'s review against another edition
5.0
I read some Captain Underpants as a kid and it was wonderful to go back to Dav Pilkey as an adult. I really enjoyed Dog Man and thought that it had a good story. I liked the end with #readtoyourdogman and learned that there is also #readtoyourcatkid, which made me happy as a cat person. I like that Dav Pilkey has flip pages in his book. It is not an original invention, but he does it in an original way. This is a great book and I bet the rest of the series is also good.
roary47's review against another edition
5.0
I love this series. It has more depth than just a kids comic book. This one has elements of Charles Dickens “Tale of Two Cities” and Million Dollar Man references. We have a new cloned character and an improvement to a previous villain.
libraryelf's review against another edition
5.0
So many fun pokes at literature and one reference to the classic movie Freaks (didn't see that coming). Added bonus of "Read to Dogs" comic and I was squealing. These are fun books.
danieljoseph's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
iamthelizardqueen's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Lil' Petey is so cute. My favorite so far.
rwims's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Brilliant dogman and little petey story.
larrys's review against another edition
4.0
Wrapped as usual in a metadiegetic wrapper story, introduced by human boys George and Harold from Pilkey's crossover series, *A Tale of Two Kitties* is another hit with my dog-loving nine-year-old daughter. She reads these over and over. Fortunately the hardbacks are the price of softcovers, because her Wimpy Kid paperbacks look feral. These stand up to the girl-handling.
I've never read Dickens. I'd probably feel more cleverer if I had read Dickens, because for all I know there are Dickens references scattered throughout. I only picked up a few of them. That said, I doubt most of the target audience are au fait with Dickens either. Dickens is not the point, because this is a fantasy with tall-story elements. There's a jandal-wearing robot, a cloned kitty who won't stop asking questions, and a zombie fish which finds superpowers in a Spider-Man type twist. This is a superhero tale -- a mashup reminiscent of We Bare Bears, crime farce, sci-fi and Godzilla (but with buildings). It's a riot, which bores me during the battle phase in the exact same way blockbuster action movies also bore me over the battle phase.
I want to say something more about the plot structure but honestly, I have no recollection of it. As in the Wimpy Kid books, the sustaining through-line is very much subordinated to the mini-stories functioning as gags.
You know what? I bet that's not fair. I bet there's a plot here and it sneakily got past me. That was the case with a Wimpy Kid book I took a close look at. Turned out to have a strong through-line when I dug in. I'm making myself take a closer look.
Right after the metadiegetic level with the boys introducing the story we have another prologue type thing functioning as a recap from last 'season'. In chapter one, Chief puts Dog Man to work, as security dog for scientists who are going to study Flippy's brain. (Flippy is a dead fish. Was he the star of the previous book? I can't remember.)
Dog Man is unfortunately slave to his doggy ways, which is his psychological weakness.
There's a concurrent plot starring Petey, the bad cat, who is busy reading a book. We see he is evil because he pops the balloon guy's balloon. We see just how mean he is when he says he'll make up for it by giving him a present. The reader knows the present buried in the sandpit will be one of his turds. He steals the balloons and flies home on helium, but all of that was just a gag-filled McGuffin, because he gets home, notices the house is a mess and now we know what he wants: "I need to get a new butler!!!! Someone who thinks like me and acts like me... and has a wretched soul like me!!!" We see him carry out his plan as he orders a clone machine online and clones himself using a whisker, but his plans are dashed when he gets a baby version of himself which will take up all his free time.
So now we have the hero and the opponent, each with their own desireline. Petey is already stuck with a baby and we're now waiting for Dog Man to make a hash job of his security detail.
Back to Dog Man, who is now at his job protecting the scientists. There's a journalist at the podium near the science building, which is a handy hack for telling the audience all about what's so special about this fish. As we expected from the first chapter, Dog Man rolls in the fish. Because that's what he does, as a dog. At this point the reader is treated to a flip-o-rama, specific to the Dog Man reading experience. Readers are encouraged to add their own sound effects as Dog Man rolls on the dead fish having much carnivalesque fun. Characters having such fun aren't generally the characters to make plans. So the characters around them must make the plans. With Dog Man ordered to sit in the corner and 'look sad... sadder!' the scientists themselves make the plans. Now they have a squished specimen they will have to rebuild him. Not only that, they will make the fish better than before. They make a bionic fish and wink-wink, nudge-nudge, Flippy is way more powerful than before. It is Dog Man's job to look after the fish overnight. Hilariously, the very act of closing the door behind them mean the scientists lead to Flippy's flying out the window. In a Rube Goldberg chain of events, Flippy ends up taken away by a bird. (We don't know where yet.) Dog Man hides behind a pot plant at the cop station, ashamed of himself. I can see why my daughter loves Dog Man. He is adorable.
Meanwhile, the bird drops the bionic fish into a 'living spray factory'. This sequence is funny because the narrative coincidence of this doesn't need lampshading, but the bird has ostensibly dropped the fish right here owning to choking on the black smoke coming out of the smokestack.
Petey is finding his clone baby very annoying so he makes a new plan. He will give mini-him away. The Kitty ruins his plans by refusing to accept his new name and deciding to call his almost-new-owner "Poo-poo Head". The customer walks away in a huff. Kitty needs to go to the toilet though, so Petey abandons the box with the Kitty in it. Afraid and alone, Kitty pushes the box-friend all the way to the cop station and camps outside.
At home, Petey gets a case of the guilts. He reminisces about the Kitty he abandoned and goes back to collect the Kitty but the Kitty is gone. This is the ingenious thing about this book -- all of the characters have their turn evoking strong sympathy from the reader, even Petey, who prides himself on being horrible.
Dog Man acts like an annoying Dog to Chief at the cop station, mirroring the plot which took place at Petey's house, with his annoying clone kitty. Chief orders Dog Man to get rid of that cat dumped out front. Dog Man falls in love with Kitty instantly. Using the rule of threes, three people turn up wanting to buy the cute kitty but Dog Man growls and scares them all away. Dog Man takes Kitty home and fathers him lovingly. They fall asleep together.
Alone again, Petey is busy working on his Hexotron Droid. It comes to life. It is wearing jandals. This is a great touch. It's especially great because the Droid can make an onomatopoeic flip-flop sound as it runs. It is revealed that Petey has made this Droid to find his little clone. He sends the Droid out on that mission. The Droid leads Petey straight to Dog Man's kennel. The Droid's arm reaches in and steals Kitty back. Kitty wakes up and once again mistakes Petey for his 'Papa'. Petey tries to teach Kitty to be evil like him.
When Dog Man wakes up the Kitty is gone so of course he runs around looking for him. Eventually he runs past the science lab, where the story cuts to two workers who have found the dead fish in their living spray factory. They try to get rid of it, but of course the first thing they try does not work -- the bionic fish jumps right out of the trash can. This chapter ends on a cliffhanger as the factory fills up with 'living spray'.
Petey continues to indoctrinate his little clone into being evil. He has programmed the Droid to respond to the Kitty, who is supposed to use the Droid for evil. But the Kitty only wants someone to play with. In the same chapter we cut to the bionic fish. This could easily have been a new chapter, but now I realise chapter divisions in this book have as much to do with 'chapter length' as they do with changes of setting/POV.
Ironically, the fish is the evil creature Petey wants his clone to be. He brings the factory to life. Then he brings a city of buildings to life, to create an army of monsterised buildings on the rampage. His motivation? "This building is just what I need to take REVENGE!!" It doesn't really matter what the revenge is for. We didn't see the fish murdered in this story -- we will accept any number of campy lines straight out of Scooby-Doo and the low-budget horrors these spoofs were based on. (Where are those straight takes, by the way?) Petey puts his clone inside the Droid, telling him to do anything he wants. And at the cop station, word has come in about a bunch of buildings that have come to life. They defeat the buildings with tooth floss and a mayonnaise truck. The two groups of characters -- the cops and the come together geographically during this battle as the salad dressing truck driven by Dog Man passes Petey and Kitty. Kitty runs after Dog Man because Dog Man treated him so well that time he stayed over.
Dog Man and Zuzu get into another battle sequence against the buildings while Chief and Sarah Hatoff cheer on, offering a kind of meta-narration to the audience (while also drawn facing us). Now there is a lick-o-rama, a fun take on the earlier flip-o-rama in which readers are cautioned not to lick the page. It's interesting how this was done -- the meta narration of the two 'adult' characters leads seamlessly into the 'toy' part of the book (which couldn't be more meta).
Now there has to be another battle sequence, this time allowing Kitty inside the Droid and the bionic fish to demonstrate their powers. As mentioned above, for me this is too much battle sequence. But necessary for the story, and probably enjoyed by young readers. The bionic fish wants the kitty. Petey hands Kitty to Dog Man so Dog Man can save him, demonstrating the hierarchy of power between Petey and Dog Man (kindness wins out). I'm not sure why the fish wants to destroy Kitty and not Dog Man, who stomped on his carcass, after all. (I don't think this is meant to matter? He wants to defeat something easy and small and cute?)
Eventually Kitty asks the fish why he's being so mean to Petey (who he has now turned his attention to). We get a sad backstory about how kids called him Fatty Fish Lips when he was little. But Kitty has made a book for the fish, which wins him over in a self-revelation sequence. He loses his evil powers, which sends Petey crashing back to Earth.
It's clear in the final chapter that Sarah Hatoff's role in this story (and probably in the whole series) is to be the maternal, sensible voice of reason. Here she dishes out the admonishment: "Flippy, you've been a naughty fish today!" You can put money on this. If there's one female character in the whole story, whenever a sensible voice is called for, it'll be her. Even if most of the time she's used as another comic equal. (I call this the Female Maturity Formula.)
Everyone makes friends in the end and Petey realises the error of his ways. But he isn't really hugging the Chief. He's secretly handcuffing him to a traffic light pole. That's how it works. We can't give comedy characters genuine, long-lasting character arcs otherwise there'd be no good flaw for another book in the series.
It's interesting and inventive that we are given three alternative endings. A 'Sliding Doors' approach also known as side-shadowing. The reader is drawn into the story as creator, asked to pick which ending they like the best, or at least considering each of them.
The final final 'chapter' takes us back to our fictional boy creators, and this chapter functions solely to promote the next Dog Man book. Which is ingenious marketing, I have to admit.
Now I've read it twice. Yes, there is a strong plot. Takeaway lesson? The plot has to be super strong to withstand the constant comic diversions. Interestingly, my first reading picked up only the gags and I wouldn't have been able to tell you what actually happened. No wonder my nine-year-old reads these multiple times -- the first answer is that they stand up to it, but more significantly, they almost require it.
I've never read Dickens. I'd probably feel more cleverer if I had read Dickens, because for all I know there are Dickens references scattered throughout. I only picked up a few of them. That said, I doubt most of the target audience are au fait with Dickens either. Dickens is not the point, because this is a fantasy with tall-story elements. There's a jandal-wearing robot, a cloned kitty who won't stop asking questions, and a zombie fish which finds superpowers in a Spider-Man type twist. This is a superhero tale -- a mashup reminiscent of We Bare Bears, crime farce, sci-fi and Godzilla (but with buildings). It's a riot, which bores me during the battle phase in the exact same way blockbuster action movies also bore me over the battle phase.
I want to say something more about the plot structure but honestly, I have no recollection of it. As in the Wimpy Kid books, the sustaining through-line is very much subordinated to the mini-stories functioning as gags.
You know what? I bet that's not fair. I bet there's a plot here and it sneakily got past me. That was the case with a Wimpy Kid book I took a close look at. Turned out to have a strong through-line when I dug in. I'm making myself take a closer look.
Right after the metadiegetic level with the boys introducing the story we have another prologue type thing functioning as a recap from last 'season'. In chapter one, Chief puts Dog Man to work, as security dog for scientists who are going to study Flippy's brain. (Flippy is a dead fish. Was he the star of the previous book? I can't remember.)
Dog Man is unfortunately slave to his doggy ways, which is his psychological weakness.
There's a concurrent plot starring Petey, the bad cat, who is busy reading a book. We see he is evil because he pops the balloon guy's balloon. We see just how mean he is when he says he'll make up for it by giving him a present. The reader knows the present buried in the sandpit will be one of his turds. He steals the balloons and flies home on helium, but all of that was just a gag-filled McGuffin, because he gets home, notices the house is a mess and now we know what he wants: "I need to get a new butler!!!! Someone who thinks like me and acts like me... and has a wretched soul like me!!!" We see him carry out his plan as he orders a clone machine online and clones himself using a whisker, but his plans are dashed when he gets a baby version of himself which will take up all his free time.
So now we have the hero and the opponent, each with their own desireline. Petey is already stuck with a baby and we're now waiting for Dog Man to make a hash job of his security detail.
Back to Dog Man, who is now at his job protecting the scientists. There's a journalist at the podium near the science building, which is a handy hack for telling the audience all about what's so special about this fish. As we expected from the first chapter, Dog Man rolls in the fish. Because that's what he does, as a dog. At this point the reader is treated to a flip-o-rama, specific to the Dog Man reading experience. Readers are encouraged to add their own sound effects as Dog Man rolls on the dead fish having much carnivalesque fun. Characters having such fun aren't generally the characters to make plans. So the characters around them must make the plans. With Dog Man ordered to sit in the corner and 'look sad... sadder!' the scientists themselves make the plans. Now they have a squished specimen they will have to rebuild him. Not only that, they will make the fish better than before. They make a bionic fish and wink-wink, nudge-nudge, Flippy is way more powerful than before. It is Dog Man's job to look after the fish overnight. Hilariously, the very act of closing the door behind them mean the scientists lead to Flippy's flying out the window. In a Rube Goldberg chain of events, Flippy ends up taken away by a bird. (We don't know where yet.) Dog Man hides behind a pot plant at the cop station, ashamed of himself. I can see why my daughter loves Dog Man. He is adorable.
Meanwhile, the bird drops the bionic fish into a 'living spray factory'. This sequence is funny because the narrative coincidence of this doesn't need lampshading, but the bird has ostensibly dropped the fish right here owning to choking on the black smoke coming out of the smokestack.
Petey is finding his clone baby very annoying so he makes a new plan. He will give mini-him away. The Kitty ruins his plans by refusing to accept his new name and deciding to call his almost-new-owner "Poo-poo Head". The customer walks away in a huff. Kitty needs to go to the toilet though, so Petey abandons the box with the Kitty in it. Afraid and alone, Kitty pushes the box-friend all the way to the cop station and camps outside.
At home, Petey gets a case of the guilts. He reminisces about the Kitty he abandoned and goes back to collect the Kitty but the Kitty is gone. This is the ingenious thing about this book -- all of the characters have their turn evoking strong sympathy from the reader, even Petey, who prides himself on being horrible.
Dog Man acts like an annoying Dog to Chief at the cop station, mirroring the plot which took place at Petey's house, with his annoying clone kitty. Chief orders Dog Man to get rid of that cat dumped out front. Dog Man falls in love with Kitty instantly. Using the rule of threes, three people turn up wanting to buy the cute kitty but Dog Man growls and scares them all away. Dog Man takes Kitty home and fathers him lovingly. They fall asleep together.
Alone again, Petey is busy working on his Hexotron Droid. It comes to life. It is wearing jandals. This is a great touch. It's especially great because the Droid can make an onomatopoeic flip-flop sound as it runs. It is revealed that Petey has made this Droid to find his little clone. He sends the Droid out on that mission. The Droid leads Petey straight to Dog Man's kennel. The Droid's arm reaches in and steals Kitty back. Kitty wakes up and once again mistakes Petey for his 'Papa'. Petey tries to teach Kitty to be evil like him.
When Dog Man wakes up the Kitty is gone so of course he runs around looking for him. Eventually he runs past the science lab, where the story cuts to two workers who have found the dead fish in their living spray factory. They try to get rid of it, but of course the first thing they try does not work -- the bionic fish jumps right out of the trash can. This chapter ends on a cliffhanger as the factory fills up with 'living spray'.
Petey continues to indoctrinate his little clone into being evil. He has programmed the Droid to respond to the Kitty, who is supposed to use the Droid for evil. But the Kitty only wants someone to play with. In the same chapter we cut to the bionic fish. This could easily have been a new chapter, but now I realise chapter divisions in this book have as much to do with 'chapter length' as they do with changes of setting/POV.
Ironically, the fish is the evil creature Petey wants his clone to be. He brings the factory to life. Then he brings a city of buildings to life, to create an army of monsterised buildings on the rampage. His motivation? "This building is just what I need to take REVENGE!!" It doesn't really matter what the revenge is for. We didn't see the fish murdered in this story -- we will accept any number of campy lines straight out of Scooby-Doo and the low-budget horrors these spoofs were based on. (Where are those straight takes, by the way?) Petey puts his clone inside the Droid, telling him to do anything he wants. And at the cop station, word has come in about a bunch of buildings that have come to life. They defeat the buildings with tooth floss and a mayonnaise truck. The two groups of characters -- the cops and the come together geographically during this battle as the salad dressing truck driven by Dog Man passes Petey and Kitty. Kitty runs after Dog Man because Dog Man treated him so well that time he stayed over.
Dog Man and Zuzu get into another battle sequence against the buildings while Chief and Sarah Hatoff cheer on, offering a kind of meta-narration to the audience (while also drawn facing us). Now there is a lick-o-rama, a fun take on the earlier flip-o-rama in which readers are cautioned not to lick the page. It's interesting how this was done -- the meta narration of the two 'adult' characters leads seamlessly into the 'toy' part of the book (which couldn't be more meta).
Now there has to be another battle sequence, this time allowing Kitty inside the Droid and the bionic fish to demonstrate their powers. As mentioned above, for me this is too much battle sequence. But necessary for the story, and probably enjoyed by young readers. The bionic fish wants the kitty. Petey hands Kitty to Dog Man so Dog Man can save him, demonstrating the hierarchy of power between Petey and Dog Man (kindness wins out). I'm not sure why the fish wants to destroy Kitty and not Dog Man, who stomped on his carcass, after all. (I don't think this is meant to matter? He wants to defeat something easy and small and cute?)
Eventually Kitty asks the fish why he's being so mean to Petey (who he has now turned his attention to). We get a sad backstory about how kids called him Fatty Fish Lips when he was little. But Kitty has made a book for the fish, which wins him over in a self-revelation sequence. He loses his evil powers, which sends Petey crashing back to Earth.
It's clear in the final chapter that Sarah Hatoff's role in this story (and probably in the whole series) is to be the maternal, sensible voice of reason. Here she dishes out the admonishment: "Flippy, you've been a naughty fish today!" You can put money on this. If there's one female character in the whole story, whenever a sensible voice is called for, it'll be her. Even if most of the time she's used as another comic equal. (I call this the Female Maturity Formula.)
Everyone makes friends in the end and Petey realises the error of his ways. But he isn't really hugging the Chief. He's secretly handcuffing him to a traffic light pole. That's how it works. We can't give comedy characters genuine, long-lasting character arcs otherwise there'd be no good flaw for another book in the series.
It's interesting and inventive that we are given three alternative endings. A 'Sliding Doors' approach also known as side-shadowing. The reader is drawn into the story as creator, asked to pick which ending they like the best, or at least considering each of them.
The final final 'chapter' takes us back to our fictional boy creators, and this chapter functions solely to promote the next Dog Man book. Which is ingenious marketing, I have to admit.
Now I've read it twice. Yes, there is a strong plot. Takeaway lesson? The plot has to be super strong to withstand the constant comic diversions. Interestingly, my first reading picked up only the gags and I wouldn't have been able to tell you what actually happened. No wonder my nine-year-old reads these multiple times -- the first answer is that they stand up to it, but more significantly, they almost require it.
kitsana_d's review against another edition
My son loves these and even started trying to follow the draw alongs in the back!