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Parents' Guide to

Cat Kid Comic Club, Book 1

By Carrie Kingsley, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 7+

Fun, irreverent characters share poop jokes, life lessons.

Book Dav Pilkey Graphic Novel 2020
Cat Kid Comic Club, Book 1 Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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age 13+

Based on 2 parent reviews

Bethany T.
Bethany T. Parent of 7-year-old
May 28, 2023
age 13+

This book is trash for the sake of trash. Stay away! No substance!

I was APPALLED at the content of this book. Murder, violence, name calling, incessant potty humor (that becomes plain annoying, honestly). There are several attempts to turn junk into a positive message, but it isn’t fooling anyone- this is trash for the sake of trash. Some examples include: “It’s fun to be dead.” “‘But what about the violence? What about the potty jokes? What about the reckless disregard for the sanctity of life and stuff?’ ‘Dude, that’s normal’.” “Hey ya, stupes” and “Hey, losers!” Honestly, the book summed itself up nicely in one quote: “It’s all death and violence and fart jokes!” My MIL bought our 7-year-old the series and they’re ALL going in the TRASH where they belong.
Lipinsk11
Lipinsk11 Parent of 6-year-old
December 1, 2022
age 12+

nuclear bombs and earth's destruction

oh boy. I already had gotten my 6 year old son the 2nd book after leafing through. my husband got him Book 1. my son asked me to read one of the stories. the character Supa Fail, causes injuries and then sets off a nuclear bomb that destroys the earth. I showed it to my husband and he said, well it was done in a silly way. so, it desensitizes them to nuclear bombs? I don't like it. I had to pick an age. 12? I don't know.
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In THE CAT KID COMIC CLUB, a spin-off of Dav Pilkey's Dog Man series, Li'l Petey is starting a club for drawing comics. Joined by friends Flippy and Molly, the trio tries to teach 21 baby frogs to create comics using their own strengths and talents. Within the story are the frogs' comics, stories told using markers, pastels, photographs, sculptures, and more. Despite creative setbacks and frustration, the frogs learn about collaboration, individual work, persistence, and the importance of being themselves. The end of the book has facts about haiku and creative materials, and throughout the story there are step-by-step instructions for drawing characters.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (6 ):

Author Dav Pilkey knows that kids can giggle about poop jokes while asking big, philosophical questions; he's created a funny, deep, wonderfully irreverent graphic novel to match that spirit. Cat Kid Comic Club is a quick read with enough advanced vocabulary words sprinkled in to offer a challenge, and the illustrations are fast, colorful, and fun. There's also real depth here, but never so much that the story takes too serious a turn. On one page, characters are coming to terms with the hypocrisy of judging kids' artistic content differently than adults' work while only a few pages earlier there was a barrage of fart jokes. The message of persistence is strong here, and applies to more than developing artistic talent.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how Cat Kid Comic Club shows how you can use drawings to help tell stories. How do you think the storytlling in this new series sart compares with Dog Man and Captain Underpants? What other graphic novels have you read?

  • Have you ever been scared to put your heart into something because you're new to it and think you might fail? What happened?

  • Think you might like to try making your own graphic novel? Would you have animals of people as the manin characters?

Book Details

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