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Dav Pilkey's Dog Man: Mothering Heights is a very silly, surprisingly soft-hearted comic for 7 year olds where two sippy cups come to life and grow as tall as buildings.
Petey used to be the world's most evilest cat. Now he's trying hard to be good, and the reporter Sarah Hatoff is coming to film his story for TV. All he wants is one calm day.
He isn't going to get it. His son Li'l Petey and their friend Molly burst into the interview singing songs about diarrhoea (Petey is NOT impressed). Then they leave their sippy cups lying around in his lab.
Meanwhile Petey's selfish dad has escaped from Cat Jail dressed as a cardboard robot. He's hunting for two secret ingredients, and guess where they're kept?
Dog Man has troubles of his own. He hurts his fingers drinking out of the toilet, so he's stuck in a cone that gets him laughed at. And the Chief has a crush on Nurse Lady but can't get his love letter right. It all comes together in one VERY messy night.
The whole thing is told in comic panels, packed with giant capitals and noises like CRUMBUBUMBA and SPLORSH. Flip-E-Rama pages turn two pictures into a wobbly little cartoon when you flick between them (a page near the start explains how, with buttons or a swipe). There's even a Smooch-E-Rama for the Chief and Nurse Lady, which might get a loud "EWW".
Under all the poo jokes it's really a book about love. Petey takes Sarah back to the shelter where it all began for him, and you see the mum who never gave up on him. It's the part grown-ups reading along might not see coming.
Petey's past is sadder than the cover suggests. In a flashback his dad leaves, he and his mum live in a shelter with very little money or food, and later she dies. It's told gently over a few quiet pages, and it's all in the past. A child who has lost someone close might find those pages tender. Everything else is cartoon chaos with no blood (buildings fall down and monsters get smashed to bits), plus a LOT of toilet humour.
This is the tenth Dog Man book. A cast page at the front introduces everyone, so a new reader can follow it, but plenty of jokes lean on the earlier adventures.
If your reader hasn't met this gang yet, the first Dog Man book is where it all starts.
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