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larrys's review against another edition
2.0
My ten year old would give this five out of five stars but this isn't her account.
I can see the appeal, though to me this is like turning on ABC 3 to a random show and having it babble at you. In full disclosure, I thought the first Dogman was pretty good. But this one is structured around the following running gag, which I guess we're to interpret as metafiction, since the entire story is bookended by the boys from Captain Underpants writing the comic:
What is it with you and POOP?
Look, you can't just tell the same joke... over and over... and expect it to still be funny!
You can't do the same things... again and again... and expect to get a laugh! Ya gotta avoid repetition...shun redundancy...eschew reiteration... resist recapitulation... and also, stop telling the same joke over and over!
[...]
Why do you keep telling these stupid jokes?
Because it's distracting.
Distracting from what?
[...]
Ya just gotta switch expectations!
The guy who founded the Onion divides humour into 11 categories and this would be a (fairly rare) example of metahumour -- humour about humour. It relies on quite a high level of sophistication from the reader, and I guess this is why Dogman is said to appeal to both kids and adults. I guess I'm a little skeptical. I feel like Pilkey ran out of 'actual' (diegetic -- non-meta) jokes. So we get a lot of non sequitur jokes from the young cat (which parents will relate to) and a lot of poop on the head jokes.
It is what it is.
Regarding the power of reading: The carrot of a preorder got my kid to memorise her three and four times tables.
Addendum, because this annoys me more than I can say.
Dav Pilkey's biography at the end says that 'as a child he suffered from ADHD'. My ADHD daughter was delighted to learn Dav Pilkey is a fellow ADHD creative. I'm less keen to teach her that ADHD equates to 'suffering'. Pilkey did suffer, but not from his ADHD -- from a school culture which didn't recognise the neurodifference and cater for it.
Also, Dav Pilkey is still and always be made of the ADHD phenotype. The phrasing used in his bio perpetuates the myth that kids grow out of ADHD, like they get a box on their eighteenth birthday and inside they get a neurotypical brain.
I can see the appeal, though to me this is like turning on ABC 3 to a random show and having it babble at you. In full disclosure, I thought the first Dogman was pretty good. But this one is structured around the following running gag, which I guess we're to interpret as metafiction, since the entire story is bookended by the boys from Captain Underpants writing the comic:
What is it with you and POOP?
Look, you can't just tell the same joke... over and over... and expect it to still be funny!
You can't do the same things... again and again... and expect to get a laugh! Ya gotta avoid repetition...shun redundancy...eschew reiteration... resist recapitulation... and also, stop telling the same joke over and over!
[...]
Why do you keep telling these stupid jokes?
Because it's distracting.
Distracting from what?
[...]
Ya just gotta switch expectations!
The guy who founded the Onion divides humour into 11 categories and this would be a (fairly rare) example of metahumour -- humour about humour. It relies on quite a high level of sophistication from the reader, and I guess this is why Dogman is said to appeal to both kids and adults. I guess I'm a little skeptical. I feel like Pilkey ran out of 'actual' (diegetic -- non-meta) jokes. So we get a lot of non sequitur jokes from the young cat (which parents will relate to) and a lot of poop on the head jokes.
It is what it is.
Regarding the power of reading: The carrot of a preorder got my kid to memorise her three and four times tables.
Addendum, because this annoys me more than I can say.
Dav Pilkey's biography at the end says that 'as a child he suffered from ADHD'. My ADHD daughter was delighted to learn Dav Pilkey is a fellow ADHD creative. I'm less keen to teach her that ADHD equates to 'suffering'. Pilkey did suffer, but not from his ADHD -- from a school culture which didn't recognise the neurodifference and cater for it.
Also, Dav Pilkey is still and always be made of the ADHD phenotype. The phrasing used in his bio perpetuates the myth that kids grow out of ADHD, like they get a box on their eighteenth birthday and inside they get a neurotypical brain.
kriziaannacastro's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
5.0
sisters_reads7's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
hossein's review against another edition
2.0
Lil' Petey is painfully unfunny.
BRING BACK THE DOG MAN!
BRING BACK THE DOG MAN!
minitoblerowl's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
riotbatgrrl's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely adored this one. Petey's character development and backstory! Lil Petey's (truly awful) knock-knock jokes! Literary references! A plea to read to shelter animals at the end! I look forward to the day the kids who are reading this now grow up and reread it, because this is a book with many layers and I wouldn't be surprised if they love it even more as they get older.
2nd read for Dog Man and Donuts: this is even better when read with the purpose of analyzing it because there are so many clever little details that have been carried through the previous books and it's just lovely and I have very strong feelings about Dog Man
2nd read for Dog Man and Donuts: this is even better when read with the purpose of analyzing it because there are so many clever little details that have been carried through the previous books and it's just lovely and I have very strong feelings about Dog Man
falconerreader's review against another edition
5.0
Captain Underpants is cute, but in sort of a "you've read one, you've read them all" way, at least for grownups. So I never picked up Dogman until someone (Pernille Ripp maybe?) wrote that this volume in the series was a must-have, and that if you bought it for kids, you should read it yourself too.
The art style looks like Captain U, because the premise is that these are George and Harold's work. But the heart and charm reminded me more of Pilkey's delightful Dragon stories. Sure, the intentionally random plot twists, giant robots, evil villains, and flip-o-rama are all closely identified with Captain U. But everything from the parodying of a classic to the themes of the story to the utter sweetness of the baby kitty show yes, maturity. (As promised in the prologue by Harold and George, now fifth graders with drawn-on mustaches.
The art style looks like Captain U, because the premise is that these are George and Harold's work. But the heart and charm reminded me more of Pilkey's delightful Dragon stories. Sure, the intentionally random plot twists, giant robots, evil villains, and flip-o-rama are all closely identified with Captain U. But everything from the parodying of a classic to the themes of the story to the utter sweetness of the baby kitty show yes, maturity. (As promised in the prologue by Harold and George, now fifth graders with drawn-on mustaches.
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