Review Detail
Twist on the Classics
Overall rating
5.0
Plot/Characters/Writing Style
5.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
5.0
Dog Man and Li'l Petey are back, making hydraulic roof ramps for their dog house with robot 80-HD and having other fun adventures, but when a representative of Kitty Protective Services shows up and demands that Li'l Petey go to school, Dog Man doesn't feel he can stop it. Of course, it's not really the KPS, it's Petey, coming to steal his clone. Petey tells Li'l Petey about his harrowing childhood experiences playing miniature golf that quickly turned into a Lord of the Flies type situation, leaving him with bitter resentment against his fellow scouts, Pinky, Crunky and Bub. Of course, these nemeses also feel wronged by Petey, and plan their own revenge involving a giant robobrontasaurus. Complications ensue, and the cast of characters all get involved in helping Petey defeat this new evil. With the help of his clone, Petey starts to see the error of his ways, but still must pay for the crimes he has already committed.
Good Points
While Li'l Petey's paraphrasing of Kent M. Keith's poem Anyway to help Petey realize he still needs to be a good person, as well as the inclusion of a short story about why reading to children will endear Dog Man to adults, any Pilkey fan knows that the real draw of a Dog Man book is the full color comic book style layouts, the flip-o-ramas, and the nonstop, goofy adventure. This installment certainly has plenty of that, as well as chase scenes with unlikely robocreatures bent on world domination and destruction.
Petey's nemeses (an alligator, pig, and gorilla) are a fun new addition, and the reworking of Golding's classic is age appropriate. Not sure if it will encourage the target demographic to pick up the book, even if Harold states he finally finished it. The next book in the series is Brawl of the Wild, (due out December 24th 2018), so Pilkey does seem to have an eye towards bringing more attention to classic literature via his half dog, half policeman protagonist.
Elementary school age readers will be thrilled to read this new installment from Pilkey, and even middle school students remain fans of his mix of crime fighting, hilarious pictures, and Dog Man being distracted by any form of squirrel.
Petey's nemeses (an alligator, pig, and gorilla) are a fun new addition, and the reworking of Golding's classic is age appropriate. Not sure if it will encourage the target demographic to pick up the book, even if Harold states he finally finished it. The next book in the series is Brawl of the Wild, (due out December 24th 2018), so Pilkey does seem to have an eye towards bringing more attention to classic literature via his half dog, half policeman protagonist.
Elementary school age readers will be thrilled to read this new installment from Pilkey, and even middle school students remain fans of his mix of crime fighting, hilarious pictures, and Dog Man being distracted by any form of squirrel.
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