Reluctant Reader Pick: Dog Man Unleashed (book 2)

Dog Man Unleashed
by Dav Pilkey
Graphix
224 pages
2016
ISBN: 9780545935203

Kids don't need to be told: Dog Man Unleashed is the real deal! Dav Pilkey just keeps getting it right for those reluctant readers who just need a reason to pick up a book. This second book is even more fun than the original.Inane, silly, charming, ridiculous, and did I say silly? Well, fun then. Sheer fun!

 Pilkey does the amazing: he makes everything possible: a T. Rex skeleton becomes reanimated and dances around , a cat can be an evil genius, a police chief is so bumbling that he needs the assistance of Dog Man to solve even the silliest of crimes. In a graphic novel that reads more like a "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoon with evil Natasha and Boris, Dog Man is your hero. Pilkey must have spent every Saturday morning glued to his television watching the roadrunner outsmart Wile E. Coyote.

Poor Dog Man. He is half Dog (the head and dog instincts) and half human (the human body). In a  freak accident, Officer Knight and Greg the Dog get blown up, and  the ambulance takes them to the hospital with the siren sounding, "Wee-OOO-Wee_OOO" --never has anyone found a way to write a siren sound that was legit before Pilkey--so applause for that alone! The ER doctors say that the only way to fix Greg the Dog and Officer Knight is to combine them into one. This seems far-fetched, but it is laugh out loud funny!

Dialog is tongue-in-cheek with 80's and 90's references. It is irreverent and hysterical. Two kids are  passing by, a boy and a girl, and see the cat villain stealing treasure chests. A  mysterious stranger wants to stop him by  using  his mind powers to pick up a phone booth to throw at the cat. The kids ask, "What's a phone booth?" Next he picks up a stack of newspaper and a mailbox then "he grabs some other stuff with his brain" from Lulu's Obsolete Goods. The kids wonder what each obsolete item is and that's the fun of it! Adults will chuckle along with their reluctant readers--if they are lucky enough to be reading along, that is!

Dog Man is the perfect cop...except for the fact that every time he sees a bone, he wants to lick it and every time he sees a ball, he wants to chase it and catch it. Pilkey has included flip pages with instructions for readers to flip the pages and see the "action" cartoon. Readers will be delighted!
How to draw pages in back teach readers how to draw main characters and Pilkey's website has more content to interest young doodlers and dreamers.

Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series made readers out of a generation of reluctant readers two decades ago; Dog Man will take this generation by storm. Hooray for Dog Man!

Highly, highly recommended for all reluctant readers and anyone who needs a laugh. This is sheer silliness for the fun of it! Don't fight it! Give in to Dog Man!

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Magical Storytelling Pick: Wink Poppy Midnight

 

Wink Poppy Midnight

by April Genevieve Tucholke

Dial Books

2016

247 pages

ISBN: 9780803740488

 

 

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/14/april-genevieve-tucholke-wink-poppy-midnight-excerpt

 

"Tucholke walks a fine, spine-chilling line. . .  An eerie, tangled story with plenty of questions: Who can be trusted? Who—or what—pulls the strings? . . . The book keeps readers wondering. Nicely constructed and planned, with unexpected twists to intrigue and entertain.”  

—Kirkus starred review

“A dark, unpredictable mystery that . . . shimmer[s] with sumptuous descriptions and complicated psychologies. . . . Occult accoutrements, descriptions of the wild landscape, and a twisting-turning plot create an uncertain atmosphere that constantly shift readers’ perceptions of who is trustworthy.”

 —Publishers Weekly

 

From the author's website:

 

Spring 2016 Kids’ Indie Next List

 

Amazon Editors' Best Books of the month, March 2016

 

A Junior Library Guild Selection

 

Teen Vogue’s Best New YA Books of 2016

 

PureWow's Best of Spring

 

Wink Poppy Midnight is that rare book: equal parts magic, mystery, romance and intrigue. Textured and rich, the prose sings off the pages. Tucholke is one fine storyteller; she pulls you in, makes you believe in magic, throws crazy plot twists at you, adds a few red herrings for spice, plays you like a fiddle and then leaves you breathless, confused and delighted. "Every story needs a hero. Every story needs a villain. Every story needs a secret." (from the inside cover). Readers will not see this story's ending coming, and believe me, there's no way to prepare for it--any of it.

 

Wink is a masterful storyteller who believes, truly believes--to the depths of her being--in fairy tales. Poppy is a mean girl; the girl who seemingly has no heart. She cares nothing for any one and she only acts in her own self-interest. She's a true sociopath. She plays with both Midnight and Wink, toying with their hearts and heads until Wink can bear it no more. Wink convinces Midnight of a plan to bring Poppy down a notch or two.

When their plan goes off the rails, Poppy disappears. Both Wink and Midnight feel guilt, but Wink knows Poppy is still playing a game with them. Wink knows Poppy like she knows herself. Midnight once loved Poppy, and he still smells her perfume in his room. Is she a ghost? Is he seeing things? If she's alive, why won't she come back?

Someone is pulling the strings and someone is lying, but whom? Is it Poppy manipulating others into thinking she is dead? Or is it Wink, the pixie storyteller? Everyone loves Wink, but with her intelligence and creative, whimsical mind, could she be the mastermind for murder? Or is it someone else behind the scenes? Someone Poppy used to love?

Minor characters are drawn into the mystery and add to the suspense. Wink's younger siblings think Poppy has drowned, and Wink might even believe it.

After a chilling séance, an accidental fire burns down the spooky Roman Luck House and the kids escape, everyone except Midnight. Wink fears Midnight is dead, but (spoiler alert) someone or something pulled him from the house. Only Midnight knows what really happened but he's not talking--he has too much to lose.

Heroes and villains are never truly heroic nor truly evil. Sometimes it's hard to tell the good from the bad--unlike most fairy tales where ugly ogres and cackling witches are bad and beautiful princesses and handsome heroes are always good. Wink needs her fairy tales to make sense of her life and she is such a lyrical storyteller, she has all the other kids  believing in fairy magic and heroic quests. When they listen to Wink, they believe in princesses and witches.

Wink Poppy Midnight will haunt you long after you have finished reading. The only thing missing for me was a more gothic setting. This book could have gone southern gothic or gothic romance, but it didn't. Perhaps that is the way the author intended.

Cover art captures magic elements of Wink's stories: a snake, a full moon, a spider's web, an owl, an apple, flowers, a butterfly.

 

Highly, highly recommended for mature readers. Mature situations. Poppy is quite a seductress.

 

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.