Awesome Dog 5000

May 20, 2019
Marty Fontana’s fifth-grade year starts with an unwelcome move to a new town and three glaring social faux pas: accidentally introducing himself as “Farty Montana,” scoring the winning basket for the wrong team in gym class, and failing to bring a sack lunch to avoid the unappealing cafeteria options. Invited to join the “Zeroes Club,” Marty finds a place to be himself, but he goes up against a slighted scientist after he finds a robotic, rocket-propelled dog in his new house, then unintentionally crashes a party thrown by Dr. Crazybrains. As his name suggests, Crazybrains is a caricature of the mad-scientist-bent-on-revenge archetype. This first installment in a planned series is rapidly paced and absurdist, invoking the cartoonish sensibility and visual style of the animated series Dexter’s Laboratory. While character development occurs (in a final scene, Marty sticks with the “Zeroes” over a more popular group), Dean’s debut invests heavily in ridiculous twists and silly depictions, such as Dr. Crazybrains’s transformation into “a little bunny with twenty-foot-tall butt cheeks.” This will find the most appeal with readers looking for engaging chapter books with illustrated elements. Ages 8–12. Agent: Melissa Nasson, Rubin Pfeffer Content.

May 15, 2019
A boy and his friends--including a robot dog--face off against the villainous Dr. Crazybrains. New kid Marty Fontana wants to avoid the dreaded dork label at his new school--so naturally, everything goes wrong in comedically humiliating ways. But standard dork-versus-cool tropes (such as lunch-table-codified social hierarchy) are freshened by amplifying the silliness to new heights (archetypal cool kid Shades sleeps wearing sunglasses to "look cool in his dreams"). The Zeroes Marty ends up befriending are genuinely nice: upbeat, friendly, fact-loving Ralph Rogers and proud-to-be-different daredevil Skyler Kwon. Even better, they like Marty's favorite video game, Sheriff Turbo-Karate, and they all find virtual success via team-up. Celebrating, they discover Awesome Dog 5000, a robot left behind by a mysteriously vanished scientist. When Awesome Dog and Marty accidentally wreck Dr. Crazybrains' birthday party, the pernicious potion-maker (so evil he dubs his butler Mr. Poopsie) vows vengeance. Said vengeance has a few hiccups, but once he captures Marty it's up to the Zeroes and Awesome Dog 5000 to save him. The final battle is cartoonishly ridiculous. The binary moral (coolness is bad/dorkiness is good) is expected, so it's good the jokes are so far out there. All characters appear light-skinned in the black-and-white illustrations; Skyler is coded Asian. The cartoon art (with a surprise at the end) emphasizes the cockamamie, fart-joke-heavy humor. Ludicrously juvenile, just the way its audience likes it. (Science fiction. 7-11)

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July 1, 2019

Gr 3-5-Marty is the new, lonely kid in town until he bonds with Skyler and Ralph over their favorite video game, Sheriff Turbo-Karate (which includes cheat codes that release "infinity farts"), and discovers Awesome Dog 5000, a robot dog armed with jet rockets and mega-cannons. Ralph and Marty are white, while Skyler has a Korean last name. The quartet teams up against Dr. Crazybrains, a mad scientist who creates harmful potions that can make people smell like dirty socks, turn feet into spaghetti, and enlarge bottoms until they can't fit into any underwear. Almost every page is illustrated with black and white anime-style cartoons, which include a seek-and-find game. Among the fart jokes and cannon blasts is a message to be yourself, and to find friends who celebrate your quirks and differences.VERDICT Full of irreverent humor, this is made for reluctant readers and fans of the zany humor of Andy Griffiths and Dav Pilkey.-Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library

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