Dog Man: Unleashed Review for Christian Parents

Name: Dog Man: Unleashed
Author: Dav Pilkey

Dog Man: Unleashed

VERDICT: Recommended
(with caution)

Concern Level: Medium-Low

Christian Parent Review

Concern LevelMedium-Low

Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

There is some content to know about here. During the catch-up at the start of the book they reshow an image we pointed out in the first title of a dog smelling another dog’s rear end with a caption that says “romance” (meant to be funny). At one point two officers take the bad guy to a doctor. They end up at a building that has the doctor's name, but also has “witch doctor” listed under it. When they arrive, a funny wizard looking character is the “doctor” and uses silly sprays and powers. Later the bad guy uses a similar spray to make people fall in love with him. We then see several scenes of the people of the city saying things like “hubba hubba”, “Let’s get married and stuff”, “let’s smooch it up, brah” (an alternate way of saying “bro”), etc. When the bad guy cat thinks he has outsmarted this group of people he calls them “losers” and later calls his assistant a “mooch”.

VerdictRecommended

Our Thoughts

As we continue to launch Christian Parent Reviews we have been primarily focused on reviewing the first books in a series. In this post and the next (where we will review the initial Land of Stories book) we are highlighting the fact that while most series remain relatively consistent throughout from a morality standpoint… that is not always the case. Dogman represents the good side of this story. When we reviewed the first title in this series we honestly struggled between whether we would give it a final verdict of Prayerfully Consider (yellow) or Avoid (red). Even weeks after publishing it we still went back and forth on whether we had done the right thing. On the one hand there was a lot of “potty humor” in the first edition of this series. Many experienced parents will know that potty humor is one thing that can start small in a home and then become a crowning feature of children’s day to day discussion. Not ideal. On the other hand, that book did not contain the content we consider much, much worse (my parents are dumb, school is the worst, my sister’s the worst, that kid is an idiot, etc.), which we saw in other similar graphic novel series that we marked as clear avoids (e.g., Big Nate, Timmy Failure). Also, the good guy is good, whereas in those other series the main character is the main perpetrator of the terrible content. We ended up making it a Prayerfully Consider. — Since it was so close, we decided to review the next title and we were pleasantly surprised. While not perfect, this book has almost none of the potty humor that was so prevalent in the first title. While not exhaustive, we also scanned a couple of the later titles. These were also free of the barrage of this type of content. While not intellectual by any means this looks to be a series that kiddos can enjoy with each most likely having only a few unfortunate references you will want to discuss with them if you choose to allow them to read. — Unfortunately, as we will see in the next review, other series head in a different direction altogether.

Plot SummaryNote: This information is typically from the publisher.Use with caution

Petey is up to no good in the second Dog Man book from worldwide bestselling author and artist Dav Pilkey. Dog Man is still learning a few tricks of the trade. Petey the Cat is out of the bag, and his criminal curiosity is taking the city by storm. Something fishy is going on! Can Dog Man unleash justice on this ruffian in time to save the city, or will Petey get away with the purr-fect crime? Dav Pilkey's wildly popular Dog Man series appeals to readers of all ages and explores universally positive themes, including empathy, kindness, persistence, and the importance of being true to one's self.

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Scripture Reflection

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

— Ephesians 5:8-11