Dog Man Unleashed: A Graphic Novel (Dog Man #2): From the Creator of Captain Underpants (2)

Any book that gets my 8 year old kid that excited gets 5 stars from me! Amazon delivered and he was so excited jumping and making sure he was loud enough the neighbors knew Dave Pilkey's new book had arrived that I barely got the door closed. When a child can stop what they're doing and sit still long enough to read a book in its entirety, cover to cover... That's magic. There are things about Pilkey's style I don't love. There are mistakes. He does lean toward a comic strip over a novel. But at the end of the day I want my kid excited about books and this author has our appreciation.

My son, while a string reader, was not an avid reader. After he was introduced to the series at school he came home wanting the books for his own. I looked at the already packed bookshelves of books he has no interest in (many of them older books of my own from years ago) and hesitated. Finally, as a reward for a great report card I ordered the series for him. I have lost count of how many times he has read through all of the books, repeatedly, laughing at the jokes. He has since progressed to reading them aloud to his sister though he tends to giggle before he gets to the punchline of the jokes. Definitely would recommend these!

Our five-year old grandson is obsessed with these Dav Pilkey graphic novels. Dog Man Unleashed is the fourth in the series, with book number five, Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas being released July 28, 2018. As a former primary school teacher, my students loved Pilkey's earlier published books, Kat Kong and Dogzilla. Pilkey is one gifted grown-up writer that still thinks like a young boy. He writes these "novels" from the perspective of two fifth-grade boys. The only drawback for the younger children is a tiny bit of the language; there is some "potty" humor (very standard in children's humorous literature at this time). When reading the books out loud, we simply omit those parts or replace with more age-appropriate language. This does not take away from the silliness or the children's enjoyment of these novels. I have to five-star endorse any book that causes a five-year old to be excited for bedtime simply so he can find out "what's going to happen next" with Dog Man and Cat Kid!

If your child loves the first Dog Man book, he will love Dog Man Unleashed as well. As soon as I took the book out of its packaging, my seven year old son grabbed the book out of my hands and ran to sit on the couch to read it. He even read it out load to his five year old brother. I had a blissful one hour to myself! My only 'issue' is that my son read it too quickly.