Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 07/01/2016 Gr 1–4—Part canine, part human, Dog Man is a crime-fighting sensation. He fights crime, sniffs out wrongdoing, and battles his doglike tendencies. His nemesis is Petey, a cat who cooks up devilish plans in his secret lab. The pages are filled with bold lines and colorful artwork that has a childlike feel and will delight readers. In an author's note, Pilkey explains that Dog Man is based on a character he created back in second grade, when he longed for silly books, and states that he hopes his title will help children associate reading with fun and even inspire some to craft their own stories. The text contains intentional grammatical errors, so readers should be prepared for misspellings. Panels that feature instructions on how to draw will motivate budding artists. VERDICT A riotously funny and original addition for all elementary school collections.—Lisa Gieskes, Richland County Public Library, Columbia, SC - Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2016 Infamous protagonists and author/illustrators George and Harold didn’t start their brilliant collaboration with Captain Underpants-they had an even earlier comic called Dog Man. Now that they’re older and wiser (or so they tell the reader in an intro), they’ve pulled out those still hilarious books and made some improvements on the art and spelling, offering readers a glimpse at a tough cop who has the body of a man and the head of a dog. It’s not always clear whose brain is doing the work in this story, because the cop generally still acts like a man, but it doesn’t really matter-you can’t go wrong with a hero who licks the chief, defeats talking hot dogs, and saves the world by reading books. There are plenty of Flip-O-Rama pages and how-to-draw instructions that Pilkey fans will be expecting, and the overall impact of the book mimics the vividly colored, sometimes crude, always entertaining Captain Underpants series. An author’s note explains that Dog Man was an actual second-grade creation of his, and when paired with the hand-lettering and accessible illustration style, there is strong reinforcement that kids can be creative forces on their own. Pilkey’s world is one where cops are diverse, intelligent, always fair, and even accommodating enough to accept a dog man-it’s a utopian vision that will be warmly welcomed by readers, and the next volume will be eagerly anticipated. AS - Copyright 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 08/01/2016 *Starred Review* A policeman and his police dog fail to defuse a bomb, and the ensuing explosion kills the officer’s head and the dog’s body. The solution? Graft the dog’s head onto the man’s body to create the “world’s greatest cop.” Dog Man upends a plot to replace the police chief with an evil robot, saves the city when a gangster cat erases words from all the books, turning everyone hopelessly stupid, and stands up to a revolutionary army of hot dogs. If this all sounds like it springs from the mind of an unhinged first grader, that is, in fact, the central conceit. From the doodle-scratch art and jumbled panel borders to crossed-out words with simulated grammar and spelling lapses to the generous helpings of potty humor, the book feels like a frantic message of delirious imagination from one child to another. In truth, it’s the work of Pilkey who, in the relentless style of his own Captain Underpants series, has again fired an arrow of joy straight at the fevered childhood psyche of millions of readers. And as with the good captain, this will prove a groaning burden for many adults and an utter, unfettered delight for kids. - Copyright 2016 Booklist.