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Dog Man #12

Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder

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Our canine superhero returns in DOG MAN: THE SCARLET SHEDDER, the suspenseful and hilarious twelfth graphic novel in the #1 worldwide bestselling series by award-winning author and illustrator Dav Pilkey!

P.U.! Dog Man got sprayed by a skunk! After being dunked in tomato juice, the stink is gone but the scarlet red color remains. Now exiled, this spunky superhero must struggle to save the citizens who shunned him! Will the ends justify the means for Petey, who's reluctantly pulled back into a life of crime in order to help Dog Man? And who will step forward when an all-new, never-before-seen villain unleashes an army of A.I. robots?

Kindle Edition

First published March 19, 2024

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About the author

Dav Pilkey

567 books2,756 followers
David "Dav" Pilkey (b. March 4, 1966), is a popular children's author and artist. Pilkey is best known as the author and illustrator of the Captain Underpants book series. He lives near Seattle, Washington with his wife, Sayuri.

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5 stars
1,190 (76%)
4 stars
233 (15%)
3 stars
97 (6%)
2 stars
15 (<1%)
1 star
16 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
Profile Image for Haley Smith.
15 reviews
March 20, 2024
truly the best piece of literature i’ve ever picked up. touching on subjects like social media and the increase in artificial intelligence, as well as the modern justice system. the art in this is just phenomenal. a book i think everyone should read.
March 21, 2024
Read this book for the kid I’m babysitting. Can I still mark it on Goodreads? 😂😂😂
Profile Image for Zoey.
19 reviews
Read
March 20, 2024
I will always love Dogman because it was the first series I willingly read in my I-do-not-like-to-read era. I always get excited when a new book comes out, and this one did not disappoint.

I read it all in one sitting. As usual, in this 12th novel of the series, Dogman brought all of the humor and goofiness it always does. I loved the theme of this book being about AI taking over, as now, with the ever-expanding knowledge and improving computers, robots taking over is becoming a more popular topic irl.

I just thought I would add this because it's funny. But I didn't realize (after the character literally being in 10 of the books) that 80-HD is a pun on ADHD, a disorder that I (as well as the author) have. The irony is that that is probably the reason I didn't notice the pun for so long.

Anyway, enjoy life, wear sunscreen, and read books.

-Zoey :)
Profile Image for tori gm.
29 reviews
Read
April 9, 2024
i got bored at work and finished the two books i brought with me
Profile Image for Maureen.
368 reviews
March 29, 2024
The first half of the this book is ridiculously funny and rife with wonderful flip-o-ramas. I read this one on an airplane so many people were able to witness (judge?) the glee of an adult reading Dog Man. The AI bad guy stuff was culturally on point (and I loved Pilkey’s explanation of source material at the end) but it wasn’t as poignant or funny as some of Dog Man’s previous plot lines. (The literature parodies are my favorites.) Since the lessons of AI are TBD, the ambiguity and lack of closure may have been Pilkey’s point. I have to add that my kids loved the superhero glow-up the Supa Buddies got in this book.
Profile Image for Carlos Solis.
Author 1 book10 followers
March 28, 2024
We’re team Wally!

Another lovely story about friends , families of all kinds and new unknown enemies.

The arc of Petey is charming and inspiring for kids and adults.
2 reviews2 followers
March 20, 2024
Doi

I LOVED IT THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST DOG MAN BOOKS EVER -OWNER OF TONS OF DOG MAN BOOKS! :)

Profile Image for Cooper.
48 reviews
March 19, 2024
This book was great it was a good book in the series, but im hoping the next one dog man will not be red.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
5 reviews
March 20, 2024
for 2 hole chapters I thought that the bad guys were going to win because of the giant dog man robot...!

4.5 stars... bruh!
afkmlg!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Hannah Merwin.
760 reviews1 follower
March 24, 2024
Dog Man does it again! “We can’t control the wind, but we can adjust our sails.”
45 reviews
April 5, 2024
Another late-period Dog Man book. It's up to #12 now, as long as the Captain Underpants series! I doubt Pilkey going to wind it down as long as people like me keep buying them - he dominates the children's best-seller lists more decisively than Taylor Swift dominates the music rankings - but it does feel like it's spinning its wheels.
I mean, it's mostly enjoyable! My son continues to love it, and he finds lots of parts to laugh out loud at or to ask me to re-read the next day. The mix of literary references, toilet humor, and absurdist kid stuff is fun for me, too. And while most of the art is intentionally simplistic, there are a few times when Pilkey breaks from the conceit that a fictional 5th grader drew it and really turns out solid superhero action.
But the character development isn't what it used to be. There was a time (maybe books 2-6?) when it was about people truly facing what it means to be a good person in a world where bad stuff happens, and their decision to find joy and do good felt hard-won. Now, every book follows the same formula: Petey has a crisis, then he hears a one-sentence platitude, and he spends a chapter applying that to his life. Then it ends with everyone smiling.
And beyond that... I'm not sure what's going on with Pilkey's social commentary. This one was probably supposed to be about how people retreat to their phones and ignore the world around them, which is a fair worry! But it was presented as AI robots taking over the world and doing our jobs for us. What it actually said was that people are so lazy that they would take more recreation time if technology took care of our chores. But... wouldn't that be a good thing? In reality, the worry we're facing now is that our positions are more precarious, AI could take our livelihoods, and we're more stressed out. People deserve time to relax and not be shamed for it, and a society that let everyone share the rewards of our increased productivity would be a better one than we have. If someone enjoys taking selfies, then let them!
Profile Image for Mandy.
1,556 reviews22 followers
April 5, 2024
Children's graphic novel, book 12 in a series. I have read the whole Dog Man series with my son over the last year or so and so we eagerly put this one on hold. While the story was still enjoyable, it was a bi dark and foreboding as an adult reader. The title comes from Dog Man's unfortunate bath in tomato sauce after a run-in with a skunk he was stained red and became 'The scarlet shedder." With Chief on his honeymoon, one of the underling cops takes advantage of the opportunity to arrest Dog Man on made-up charges. Dr. Scum offers Dog Man his freedom if Petey will come work with him at the AI robot factory. So robot Dog-Man is in jail while real Dog Man hides out with Lil Petey, 80-HD, and Molly the tadpole. Petey resigns himself to his fate as a bad guy, until he has flashbacks of his mother saying "We can't control the wind, but we can adjust our sails." Of course Dr. Scum creates the AI robots anyway, a battle ensues, and most of the members of society are quite obliviously playing on their phones in the meantime.

Dav Pilkey impresses me with the multiple layers of his stories. I really feel like they could be discussed and analyzed in a book club or English class. On the surface they're a fun story about these animals, but there's so much underneath. I admit I was guilty of writing off Captain Underpants, which admittedly is not as deep as the Cat Kid or Dog Man books. But overall I feel Pilkey has a very keen eye when it comes to analyzing human behavior and truly writes for all ages.
Profile Image for Sarah Johnston.
29 reviews3 followers
May 11, 2024
Listen, I will never not read a Dog Man book. They make me laugh every time.
Profile Image for Ashley Baker.
1 review
May 14, 2024
Read this with my son. Fun and funny book for school age readers! We had a lot of laughs and the message was really great and relevant to today’s technical world.
Profile Image for Rachel Klein.
47 reviews4 followers
May 7, 2024
My kids love these books.
I appreciate Dav Pilkey's love for getting kids to love literature. 🙂
1 review
April 12, 2024
Best book ever!

Best book in the whole wide world! I’m really sad because that was the dog man book! Dog man is the best book ever!
Profile Image for Ro.
234 reviews3 followers
April 17, 2024
I have grown out of this series even though there's new ones at the library.
31 reviews
April 5, 2024
Died him scarlet red chief and nurse lady are getting married and a mysterious new villan has built robots but LOTS OF CHAOS
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kristen.
1,972 reviews38 followers
April 3, 2024
My son demanded we buy this as soon as it was released. We started it immediately as our bedtime read and finished it in record time. I think we've read them all now, so we're moving on to the Cat Kid books next.
17 reviews
March 31, 2024
SPOILER ALERT!

Callums review - I loved the end with the big robot. I liked when Dr Scum came back. Dr Scum is only in Dog man 1 and 7. It was a very exciting book!
The new super buddies were a very big change from the old ones which I liked. There were also four super buddies instead of 3. This is one of my favourite dog man's !
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews

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