I loved this post - and none of my kids have read Dog Man (yet). My oldest child always liked books, and was/is happy to read what I put in front of her. It hasn't been hard to persuade her to read what I think is good. But my 5yo has displayed much less instinctive enthusiasm for reading, and he gets bored easily. I recently bought him a Pokémon "search and find" book that also includes text on each page, and it barely left his hands for 10 days. He clutched it while eating, walking outside, and stayed up with a torch reading it. It made me realise that I have to let him read what he wants to read, and then he is much more likely to become an enthusiastic reader.
My mum actually bought him Dog Man for Christmas, but ended up not giving it to him because she thought it was a bit above his level (I agree). But based on what you say here, I can see him loving it. I definitely tend towards being quite controlling about what my kids read, so this was just overall a great treatise on why we shouldn't let our own hang ups get in the way of kids reading what they love!
Yes! If it helps to know you're not alone in being quite controlling about what your kids read, you're *very much* not alone. This is a real struggle for lots of parents and caregivers, not at all limited to Dog Man. If your children are still young enough for you to work through this before they start reading more independently (and thus, making choices you might not agree with), the better -- but it's also never too late.
Great post! When my kids first started reading Captain Underpants (who they quickly abandoned for Dog Man), I was worried and you talked me through it here in the comments section. I have to say that I read all of the latest Dog Man (The Scarlet Shedder) to my kids out loud (because we had one copy and they were both rabid to read it, so a compromise) and I didn't hate the message. If I recall it was a bit of a warning about how addicted we all our to our devices. Anyway, I can confirm that it absolutely did lead to more reading for my kids. A few times a week they go to an after school outdoor program and the other day they had received their Scholastic order at school. When I went to pick them up, the outdoor program teacher marvelled that they had been sitting in the sandbox reading their new books for over an hour and she asked how we got them to be such readers. So, we no longer reject Dog Man at our house.
I have no memory whatsoever of talking you through Captain Underpants, but I'm glad I did! 😉 You've done a wonderful job raising readers, Sara, and I know you'll keep going.
I love this! My kids aren't into Dog Man yet either (or reading on their own), but I can see it on the horizon! My 5 yo has looooved having us read from Calvin and Hobbes, which I grew up on, but have some of my own issues with! But this helped talk me through that, too. And I do love potty humor, I've tried to teach it situationally - "You know mama thinks that's funny, but your teachers might not" etc.
I really appreciate your continued emphasis on reader's choice.
Long live Calvin & Hobbes -- I read every book as a kid, many times, and they remain among my all-time comfort reads. And I'm so glad it's clear that what I wrote here applies to other books, series, and reading -- of course, it's not *just* about Dog Man, but rather, our willingness to see value in our children's choices and to empower them in their agency. I know not everyone loves my continued emphasis on the reader's choice, so thank you for confirming that this is a message some people do appreciate.
I’m a youth services librarian (and the parent of a Dog Man super fan) and I LOVE Dog Man. In my 10 years working in this role, I can probably count on one hand the series that have had this big of an effect on kids reading. What an amazing, miraculous thing! I tell all parents all the time how much I love Dog Man.
My 8 yo has loved Dog Man since he was 4. It is the series that made him love reading and we own every book. I certainly don’t love them as much as him and I was excited when he could read them to himself, but whenever I read them now I see the value in them.
I reread a few after we saw the movie because my kid remembered the specific scenes and would say which books they were from. I loved the scene with Pete and lil Petey saying the world was good because lil Petey was in it. My 5 yo doesn’t love Dog Man in the same way, he prefers Ricky Ricotta by Dav Pilkey if others are looking for somewhat shorter books.
I have seen my 2nd grader reading I Survived a lot more this year and his teacher let him borrow Heroes in Training over spring break. He has also enjoyed the Who Was series and Rowley Jefferson books. Both my 5 and 8 yo enjoyed the Christmas gift from my MIL box set of Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol by Andres Miedoso.
On the note about adults being dumb in the books, on his 5th birthday at preschool, my kid got an incident report for saying “All adults are dumb, I’m leaving and going to my birthday party!” at 9 am. The admin thought it was kind of funny but I did attribute it somewhat to his Captain Underpants/Dog Man books and we had a talk about respecting our teachers.
Elizabeth, every time you share what your kids are reading or what you're reading together, I think: now this is someone respecting that choice is the right of every reader. I love some of the books you mentioned and others, not so much -- and I'm sure that's true of you too -- but what matters most is how our *readers* feel about them, and you so clearly uphold that in your own family culture of reading. Kudos to you.
Sweet Valley High/Sweet Valley Twins were the series that made me love reading when I was 7. My twin and I had to read aloud for homework and I know my parents didn’t love those books but they always supported how much we loved them. I still read a couple a year when I get in a reading rut.
I hadn't realized there was such parent-hate for Dog Man! My son has a set but isn't really into them (but does like the Captain Underpants cartoon). I don't really "get" them but I feel like that is almost the point of these kinds of books/graphic novels! Kids have their own way of expressing and receiving humor and I think it's fine, even healthy, for parents to let them develop it independently (with some light vetting, of course).
He's also a fan of The Cosmic Adventures of Astrid and Stella graphic novel series. The humor is a little milder than Dog Man but still in the same vein of easy reading and frenetic all-over-the-page energy. Sometimes you just want to read a fluffy story about animals in space!
This post made me laugh - I know my son would have been so into these had he discovered them earlier. I see them at the library and now I'm going to check some out. I, too, LOVE Pilkey's author note at the end of the book. Be weird, and read, read, read - love your message, Sarah!!!
oh god! I could not love this more. My kid had aged out before Dog Man came, but GOD I LOVED captain underpants! and definitely vetted my mom friends according to whether or not they liked Captain Underpants. I mean, I would *tolerate* moms who scorned, and I am sure it was my loss, in a few cases....but i wouldn't LIKE them or feel comfy around them. I certainly get the concerns surrounding the language, but I was already an older mom, had my first and only kid at age 38, so I had already had it up to here with shame, and shaming, and that is how the anti-Pilkey crowd felt for me. Let it be known also that at age 40 I really allowed myself the freedom of cursing like a sailor, so already I was feeling a bit loose with salty language. I felt that the glory and spirit and PERMISSION and joy of captain underpants was GENIUS and would have proposed marriage to Dav Pilkey. So now I want to read the whole Dog Man series, as a 60 yr old. Thank you for the rec! But in my case you are preaching to the choir.
I am surprised by the Dog Man hate. My first two kids read and loved the series and now read other books, and my kindergartener is now reading the first book to me; he was desperate to read it but still needs help with the bigger words and also needs assistance with *how* to read comic books/graphic novels--the form is not intuitive, I am realizing. This is also my first time reading the series and I find it totally fine: cute and stupid and fun. I used to be a bookseller and I hated when parents came asking me to help their kid STOP reading whatever they deemed unacceptable. My philosophy is, "Reading is reading is reading!" Let them read what they love! My thirteen year old, who's in eighth grade, still re-reads Diary of a Wimpy Kid as a stress reliever. I do make sure he intersperses re-reading with new books, but I also try to hold my tongue. He also just finished reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history book that's 1000 pages long! This was all the proof I needed that reading the silly stuff won't harm the brain!
Exactly! Reading can enrich our minds and lives, and it's also pleasurable--people must remember that. I read one Diary of a Wimpy Kid by myself to see what the fuss was about and I laughed so hard that I couldn't breathe. HA!
Same! It's FUNNY! Kids don't gravitate to books that don't have something in them that they enjoy. They're still too young -- even teenagers -- to use reading to punish themselves into being better people (in fact, they actively rebel at reading to better themselves!) They don't suffer from the idea of "guilty pleasures" -- which, as a concept, is just so ludicrous and dumb. We don't have unlimited time on earth -- please, let us like what we like, love what we love, enjoy what we enjoy, and DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR IT!
I haven't read Dog Man (yet) but loved your points on why the (allegedly) offensive bits of the story don't matter. Also, this comments thread is on fire!
Love this take! Some of those feelings around Dog Man remind me of commentary I ran across when my son was reading through all the Junie B Jones books :-D .
I loved this post - and none of my kids have read Dog Man (yet). My oldest child always liked books, and was/is happy to read what I put in front of her. It hasn't been hard to persuade her to read what I think is good. But my 5yo has displayed much less instinctive enthusiasm for reading, and he gets bored easily. I recently bought him a Pokémon "search and find" book that also includes text on each page, and it barely left his hands for 10 days. He clutched it while eating, walking outside, and stayed up with a torch reading it. It made me realise that I have to let him read what he wants to read, and then he is much more likely to become an enthusiastic reader.
My mum actually bought him Dog Man for Christmas, but ended up not giving it to him because she thought it was a bit above his level (I agree). But based on what you say here, I can see him loving it. I definitely tend towards being quite controlling about what my kids read, so this was just overall a great treatise on why we shouldn't let our own hang ups get in the way of kids reading what they love!
Yes! If it helps to know you're not alone in being quite controlling about what your kids read, you're *very much* not alone. This is a real struggle for lots of parents and caregivers, not at all limited to Dog Man. If your children are still young enough for you to work through this before they start reading more independently (and thus, making choices you might not agree with), the better -- but it's also never too late.
Great post! When my kids first started reading Captain Underpants (who they quickly abandoned for Dog Man), I was worried and you talked me through it here in the comments section. I have to say that I read all of the latest Dog Man (The Scarlet Shedder) to my kids out loud (because we had one copy and they were both rabid to read it, so a compromise) and I didn't hate the message. If I recall it was a bit of a warning about how addicted we all our to our devices. Anyway, I can confirm that it absolutely did lead to more reading for my kids. A few times a week they go to an after school outdoor program and the other day they had received their Scholastic order at school. When I went to pick them up, the outdoor program teacher marvelled that they had been sitting in the sandbox reading their new books for over an hour and she asked how we got them to be such readers. So, we no longer reject Dog Man at our house.
I have no memory whatsoever of talking you through Captain Underpants, but I'm glad I did! 😉 You've done a wonderful job raising readers, Sara, and I know you'll keep going.
Aww, thank you Sarah!
Love this!
Had to laugh because my 1st grader just came home with a copy of Dog Man! 😂
The Universe has a sense of humor...
I love this! My kids aren't into Dog Man yet either (or reading on their own), but I can see it on the horizon! My 5 yo has looooved having us read from Calvin and Hobbes, which I grew up on, but have some of my own issues with! But this helped talk me through that, too. And I do love potty humor, I've tried to teach it situationally - "You know mama thinks that's funny, but your teachers might not" etc.
I really appreciate your continued emphasis on reader's choice.
Long live Calvin & Hobbes -- I read every book as a kid, many times, and they remain among my all-time comfort reads. And I'm so glad it's clear that what I wrote here applies to other books, series, and reading -- of course, it's not *just* about Dog Man, but rather, our willingness to see value in our children's choices and to empower them in their agency. I know not everyone loves my continued emphasis on the reader's choice, so thank you for confirming that this is a message some people do appreciate.
I’m a youth services librarian (and the parent of a Dog Man super fan) and I LOVE Dog Man. In my 10 years working in this role, I can probably count on one hand the series that have had this big of an effect on kids reading. What an amazing, miraculous thing! I tell all parents all the time how much I love Dog Man.
Yes! Exactly! Thank you for validating this from a librarian's perspective! It *is* an amazing, miraculous thing.
My 8 yo has loved Dog Man since he was 4. It is the series that made him love reading and we own every book. I certainly don’t love them as much as him and I was excited when he could read them to himself, but whenever I read them now I see the value in them.
I reread a few after we saw the movie because my kid remembered the specific scenes and would say which books they were from. I loved the scene with Pete and lil Petey saying the world was good because lil Petey was in it. My 5 yo doesn’t love Dog Man in the same way, he prefers Ricky Ricotta by Dav Pilkey if others are looking for somewhat shorter books.
I have seen my 2nd grader reading I Survived a lot more this year and his teacher let him borrow Heroes in Training over spring break. He has also enjoyed the Who Was series and Rowley Jefferson books. Both my 5 and 8 yo enjoyed the Christmas gift from my MIL box set of Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol by Andres Miedoso.
On the note about adults being dumb in the books, on his 5th birthday at preschool, my kid got an incident report for saying “All adults are dumb, I’m leaving and going to my birthday party!” at 9 am. The admin thought it was kind of funny but I did attribute it somewhat to his Captain Underpants/Dog Man books and we had a talk about respecting our teachers.
Elizabeth, every time you share what your kids are reading or what you're reading together, I think: now this is someone respecting that choice is the right of every reader. I love some of the books you mentioned and others, not so much -- and I'm sure that's true of you too -- but what matters most is how our *readers* feel about them, and you so clearly uphold that in your own family culture of reading. Kudos to you.
Sweet Valley High/Sweet Valley Twins were the series that made me love reading when I was 7. My twin and I had to read aloud for homework and I know my parents didn’t love those books but they always supported how much we loved them. I still read a couple a year when I get in a reading rut.
This might be a good thread for the future: what books/series made you a reader (even if your parents didn’t love them)?
I hadn't realized there was such parent-hate for Dog Man! My son has a set but isn't really into them (but does like the Captain Underpants cartoon). I don't really "get" them but I feel like that is almost the point of these kinds of books/graphic novels! Kids have their own way of expressing and receiving humor and I think it's fine, even healthy, for parents to let them develop it independently (with some light vetting, of course).
He's also a fan of The Cosmic Adventures of Astrid and Stella graphic novel series. The humor is a little milder than Dog Man but still in the same vein of easy reading and frenetic all-over-the-page energy. Sometimes you just want to read a fluffy story about animals in space!
It has taken me awhile to realize that it's less about hate and more about fear. Isn't that always the case, when anyone has a problem with books?
(I love The Cosmic Adventures of Astrid and Stella!)
If you hear someone in the distance shouting YES YES YES to all of this, that's me. To ALL. OF. THIS.
-signed the poet who literally posted a note yesterday about how she got into poetry because of a Shel Silverstein poem that used the word pee.
P.S. Shakespeare was the MASTER of fart jokes are you kidding me.
RIGHT?!
This was excellent -- and not just because you linked to my site! So well said! And great recommendations!
Thank you, Afoma! And thanks for such a great list of read-alikes.
This post made me laugh - I know my son would have been so into these had he discovered them earlier. I see them at the library and now I'm going to check some out. I, too, LOVE Pilkey's author note at the end of the book. Be weird, and read, read, read - love your message, Sarah!!!
Thanks, Amy! Enjoy Dog Man 😉
I love Dog Man! And I love this, Sarah!!
Of course you do! 😊
oh god! I could not love this more. My kid had aged out before Dog Man came, but GOD I LOVED captain underpants! and definitely vetted my mom friends according to whether or not they liked Captain Underpants. I mean, I would *tolerate* moms who scorned, and I am sure it was my loss, in a few cases....but i wouldn't LIKE them or feel comfy around them. I certainly get the concerns surrounding the language, but I was already an older mom, had my first and only kid at age 38, so I had already had it up to here with shame, and shaming, and that is how the anti-Pilkey crowd felt for me. Let it be known also that at age 40 I really allowed myself the freedom of cursing like a sailor, so already I was feeling a bit loose with salty language. I felt that the glory and spirit and PERMISSION and joy of captain underpants was GENIUS and would have proposed marriage to Dav Pilkey. So now I want to read the whole Dog Man series, as a 60 yr old. Thank you for the rec! But in my case you are preaching to the choir.
I love this, and highly encourage you to do it -- read the series! It's great.
I am surprised by the Dog Man hate. My first two kids read and loved the series and now read other books, and my kindergartener is now reading the first book to me; he was desperate to read it but still needs help with the bigger words and also needs assistance with *how* to read comic books/graphic novels--the form is not intuitive, I am realizing. This is also my first time reading the series and I find it totally fine: cute and stupid and fun. I used to be a bookseller and I hated when parents came asking me to help their kid STOP reading whatever they deemed unacceptable. My philosophy is, "Reading is reading is reading!" Let them read what they love! My thirteen year old, who's in eighth grade, still re-reads Diary of a Wimpy Kid as a stress reliever. I do make sure he intersperses re-reading with new books, but I also try to hold my tongue. He also just finished reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history book that's 1000 pages long! This was all the proof I needed that reading the silly stuff won't harm the brain!
Yes, and: how many of those parents went home to read War and Peace? No, they went home to read "bathtub books" and People magazine 😂
(Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a great book!)
Exactly! Reading can enrich our minds and lives, and it's also pleasurable--people must remember that. I read one Diary of a Wimpy Kid by myself to see what the fuss was about and I laughed so hard that I couldn't breathe. HA!
Same! It's FUNNY! Kids don't gravitate to books that don't have something in them that they enjoy. They're still too young -- even teenagers -- to use reading to punish themselves into being better people (in fact, they actively rebel at reading to better themselves!) They don't suffer from the idea of "guilty pleasures" -- which, as a concept, is just so ludicrous and dumb. We don't have unlimited time on earth -- please, let us like what we like, love what we love, enjoy what we enjoy, and DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR IT!
Could not love this more, Sarah!!
Thanks, Julie!
I haven't read Dog Man (yet) but loved your points on why the (allegedly) offensive bits of the story don't matter. Also, this comments thread is on fire!
Love this take! Some of those feelings around Dog Man remind me of commentary I ran across when my son was reading through all the Junie B Jones books :-D .
YES. Yes. Junie certainly evokes the same response, though for different reasons. (Less potty humor, more outright rudeness.)
I feel like once every few years, a series comes along that really riles people up.