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BINKY

LICENSE TO SCRATCH

From the Binky series , Vol. 5

Fans will be pleased (if sad to say goodbye), and new readers will beg for the indomitable space cat’s earlier adventures.

Disaster on Binky’s space station comes in the shape of “SUITCASES!”

Neither Binky nor his assistant space pet, Gordie the dog, saw this coming, and they discover that their commanding officer, Gracie, who lives in the next space station over, is also beset by suitcases. Their humans are about to set off into deep space unprotected! Binky and Gracie are loaded into portable space pods, so space dog Gordie must be their eyes and ears on the drive—er, flight to the “pet hotel,” which turns out to be…the vet! Their humans depart, and the space pets are loaded into cells. The boredom is agonizing; they must escape and find their humans. By working together, they break out—only to find the diabolical professor Tuffy hiding out below the vet’s office, conducting horrible experiments on aliens (bugs). Can Binky and his crew escape Tuffy? Or will the aliens (bugs) take over? And will their humans ever return for them? Binky may have a license to scratch, but even he can’t know all! Binky’s fifth and final adventure has all his trademarks: sly humor, a little slapstick, self-aggrandizing misunderstanding of human doings and, of course, space gas (poot). Spires caps her series with a fun and funny adventure in spaaace!

Fans will be pleased (if sad to say goodbye), and new readers will beg for the indomitable space cat’s earlier adventures. (Graphic fantasy. 7-11)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-55453-963-5

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: June 25, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013

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DOG MAN AND CAT KID

From the Dog Man series , Vol. 4

More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.

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Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).

The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).

More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)

Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018

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DOG MAN

From the Dog Man series , Vol. 1

What a wag.

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What do you get from sewing the head of a smart dog onto the body of a tough police officer? A new superhero from the incorrigible creator of Captain Underpants.

Finding a stack of old Dog Mancomics that got them in trouble back in first grade, George and Harold decide to craft a set of new(ish) adventures with (more or less) improved art and spelling. These begin with an origin tale (“A Hero Is Unleashed”), go on to a fiendish attempt to replace the chief of police with a “Robo Chief” and then a temporarily successful scheme to make everyone stupid by erasing all the words from every book (“Book ’Em, Dog Man”), and finish off with a sort of attempted alien invasion evocatively titled “Weenie Wars: The Franks Awaken.” In each, Dog Man squares off against baddies (including superinventor/archnemesis Petey the cat) and saves the day with a clever notion. With occasional pauses for Flip-O-Rama featurettes, the tales are all framed in brightly colored sequential panels with hand-lettered dialogue (“How do you feel, old friend?” “Ruff!”) and narrative. The figures are studiously diverse, with police officers of both genders on view and George, the chief, and several other members of the supporting cast colored in various shades of brown. Pilkey closes as customary with drawing exercises, plus a promise that the canine crusader will be further unleashed in a sequel.

What a wag. (Graphic fantasy. 7-9)

Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-545-58160-8

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016

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