Dog Man: A Graphic Novel (Dog Man #1): From the Creator of Captain Underpants (1)

Dog Man is a comic-style book with a wacky storyline that kids (5-10) seem to love. My son can't get enough of the Dog Man series. The small blocks of handwritten text and colourful pictures make this interesting and engaging for reluctant readers. The jokes are funny and kids will be repeating the catchphrases in no time.

There is no doubt that children love these books. My 5yo who is a reasonably good reader loved this first book in the series, reading it from cover to cover (230 pages) in a single sitting. But essentially these books are "junk food" reading: delicious, high risk of binge-reading, but just not very good for you. Obviously with a comic-style book there aren't many words to the page and there are lots of short phrases or single words/sounds rather than full sentences, which goes with the style (the language is very American). I expect they are brilliantly useful for encouraging reluctant readers - it must be a massive boost for a child to see how many pages s/he has read and enjoyed - and if getting your child reading is your top priority, then these will be a great choice. But for a child who is not particularly reluctant, I struggle with the idea of allowing them to read too many. What bothers me is that there are deliberate spelling and grammar mistakes ("supa", "more worser" etc.). I expect this is meant to be part of the fun, but I am not sure it is fun for a reader who doesn't yet know which version is correct. This must just be confusing for readers still learning correct spelling and syntax. Am I taking this too seriously? No, I don't think so, because readers of these books are at such a very important developmental stage. Reading books full of deliberate mistakes is bound to undermine both their learning and their understanding that things like grammar and spelling actually matter and are worth getting right. Such a shame!

I ordered this book because two kids I read with (ages 10) wanted it. They like it and I hate it. There is virtually no plot, character development, or narrative arch. What little plot there is is actually stupid. The author also purposefully uses incorrect grammar for no reason. Stupid books like this make stupid people.

My 7 year old daughter absolutely loves this book. Despite having a high level of reading ability, she's been resistant to reading for pleasure. This book has snapped her out of her rut and brought enjoyment back to reading. She tore through this book in one evening and laughed nearly the whole time. The grammar is not the best, which bothers me, but this is a book that keeps my daughter's interest so I'm willing to overlook it.

Not so much that I, an adult, love it, but the kids I tutor in English love it. There are a multitude of black and white simple and comical sketches and loads of funny situations kids can connect with. The only thing I wish were different is that there is a lot of slang, along with some vulgarities of the sort that appeal to kids, and the language is not very good. You would hope, if your child spoke that way, that he/she would grow out of it. However, since the story is narrated by one of the kids in it, this may be unavoidable and one of the book's charms (for kids), rather than a fault. For kids who are native speakers surrounded by adults speaking properly, the errors wouldn't matter. That said, the learning "benefits" of the books in this series pale in comparison with the natural, yet accurate, not-vulgar, correctly-spelled, and often useful vocabulary in the conversations in all the Calvin and Hobbes books. Nevertheless, no matter how good and nutritious a food may be, if a person doesn't enjoy eating it and won't eat much, it won't help him, right? So I am grateful just to have something that a reluctant ESL pupil enjoys reading! For that purpose, fortunately or unfortunately, it is the books in this series that fill the bill. This was not our first, and we will probably be buying and reading more of them.