Dog Man For Whom The Ball Rolls, this time with more heart

Dog Man is a publishing behemoth. Not only do the books sell millions of copies, they’re read, re-read, shared, dog-eared, suffer broken spines and can usually only be spotted in elementary school libraries by the empty space that houses it for the five minutes in-between check outs. This is Greek to you unless you have a student in elementary school. We were like that with Captain Underpants. Sure the title is catchy, but we didn’t have a kid who could read yet and oh my gosh have you seen how ridiculously entertaining this book is?! Yeah, that was our reaction when our children first started reading it too.

Dog Man is cut from the same (underwear) cloth. While Dog Man For Whom The Ball Rolls has similar elements to the first six books that made it a go-to for elementary school readers; there are elements that make this book the most mature in the series yet. 

There are story elements about parents in prison, step parents, family and redemption. This is in no way Dog Man Downton Abbey, but there are bits of the story that are bigger than giant robbing robot ball, a cat revolution and Commander Cupcake.

What is interesting about the Dog Man series of books is how they’ve grown. What was a clumsy, aloof and charming dog cop, has grown into a team effort with lots of characters and growth. The slapstick elements, flip-o-rama, bright colors and manic story are still there. There’s also a healthy dose of overt nods to superhero clichés that anybody will appreciate.

As this is a default book series for elementary school kids the content is perfect for ages 7 and up. However, pre-k kids will want to get in on the action and For Whom The Ball Rolls is great for them too. Granted, they will need assistance reading some of the four or five syllable words, but there are many instances where they just need to look at the illustrations in order to enjoy the book.

The pages are slightly thicker than normal too in order to accommodate the younger fingers that will be thumbing through the book.

Do Good. That’s a common feeling in the second half of the book. It’s OK to be scared. It’s OK to make mistakes and it’s a welcome thing when people work together as part of a team. Our 9 year-old reader didn’t catch any of these more mature nods. When I asked him about the book all he told me was something about Captain Cupcake, Petey, his father and giant metal balls that rob the city.

Note what was the one thing that he didn’t mention, and that’s the titular figure from the book series-Dog Man. For Whom The Ball Rolls is a Dog Man book, yet it’s also one that adds up to more than the sum of its parts, which is an amazing accomplishment for a series that seven books into the character.

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