A review by emily_m_green
Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea by Dav Pilkey

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

In Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea by Dav Pilkey, Chief has a crush, Petey gets discouraged, and that mean pig, Piggy, is back. 

If you haven’t read a Dog Man book before, you probably don’t have kids who are middle school or younger and you do not teach K-6. My daughter was introduced to Dog Man through a summer reading program and has been loving the books ever since. 

Dog Man is a combination of a dog’s head on a man’s body, a surgery that was necessary after a police officer and his dog were hurt in an explosion. While Dog Man does not speak, he is awfully expressive and he has friends that communicate, as well. In addition to Chief, he has Sarah Hatoff, a journalist, a robot friend named 80-HD who communicates through art, and Lil Petey, who lives with him part time. 

Dog Man books are full of humor, including puns, silliness, and potty jokes. In this book, there are funny songs, including ones that made me laugh out loud—I won’t tell you which one—you’ll have to guess. You can pick up anywhere in the series, as the books are more about humor than they are about plot. 

Would I teach this book? Parents have told me, in the past, that the only thing their kid reads is Dog Man. Usually, they are not happy about this. However, there are kids who don’t read anything, and I am of the school that supports any kind of reading. Certainly, I would not sway a kid from reading a Dog Man book. If I were teaching a Dog Man book, it would be in a few different scenarios. For example, if I were teaching graphic novels, children's literature, or graphic writing. Perhaps in a middle school class if we were discussing humorous writing, then Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea would be a good choice. 

My daughter requested that we review this book together, so consider this review co-authored by her.