Dex Dingo: World's Best Greatest Ever Inventor

by Greg Foley

Overview

After a school assignment challenges Dex to be whatever he wants, Dex decides he wants to be the WORLD’S BEST GREATEST EVER…at something. Filled with clever humor and touching insight, this chapter book graphic novel series follows Dex’s misadventures as his attempts at the “coolest jobs” go awry.

Dex Dingo isn’t the BEST at anything. He’s not the SMARTEST, the FUNNIEST, the STRONGEST, or the NICEST. But he wants to be the WORLD’S BEST GREATEST EVER…at something. So when Dex’s teacher asks, “If you could be anything when you grow up, what would you be,” Dex decides that he’s going to be the best at one of the “best jobs ever.”

First on his list: an inventor! Dex is able to create an awesome lab and an amazing team of nanobots, but things immediately go wrong when the nanobots start to multiply and form a gray goo that threatens to take over his neighborhood. It’ll take some quick thinking and a rogue nanobot named Nono for Dex to stop the nanobots, save his best friend, and become the WORLD’S BEST GREATEST INVENTOR.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368096997
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	09/17/2024
Series:	Dex Dingo , #1
Sold by:	DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
Format:	eBook
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Author Info:
Award-winning author-illustrator Greg Foley was born in the Philippines, raised in Texas, and moved to New York after attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Greg launched his work in children's books in 2007 with his Charlotte Zolotow award-winning debut book, Thank You Bear, which has since been published in eight languages internationally. He now designs and creative-directs Visionaire, V Magazine, VMAN, VFiles, is based in Austin, Texas and NYC, and lives with his wife and two daughters.

Editorial Reviews

06/24/2024

Exuberant fourth grader Dex—who’s half Filipino, half American dingo—wants to be the World’s Best Greatest Ever, but he isn’t sure what he could be the World’s Best Greatest Ever of. When his teacher, Ms. MuskOx, assigns Dex and his classmates a project for which they must create a presentation about a profession that interests them, Dex uses the opportunity to become the World’s Best Greatest Ever inventor (but only because Philip called dibs on becoming king). There’s just one problem: Dex doesn’t know what to invent. Syd’s comment that “there’sss too much ssstuff in the world” sparks an idea, and soon, Dex develops trash-eating nanobots. But what starts as a seemingly foolproof recycling hack turns sideways when the nanobots begin indiscriminately consuming everything. Aided by rogue nanobot Nono, Dex and his best friend Buckley—who’s “totally batty”—must figure out how to contain the ravenous horde. An all’s-well-that-ends-well resolution sows anticipation for the next installment of this brightly hued graphic novel series opener by Foley (Kat Needs a Nap), in which a commonplace school assignment turns into a rollicking adventure. Ages 8–12. Agents: Gwen Beal and Albert Lee, United Talent. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Dex Dingo: World's Best Greatest Ever Inventor:
"Dex Dingo is a quick-paced, fun read which will have readers at the edge of their seats!"
—Dan Santat, New York Times-bestselling author and National Book Award winner of A First Time for Everything

"Full of imagination and inventiveness, Dex Dingo is a blast!"
—John Patrick Green, author of the New York Times-bestselling InvestiGators series

"An inspired graphic novel series bursting at the seams with fun ideas and creativity...just like its relatable hero, Dex Dingo himself!"
—Dave Roman, creator of Unicorn Boy

"Strega Nona meets the singularity in this zany comic....[E]nergetic illustrations and off-the-wall story brim with action and humor; kids will be eager for more of Dex. Frenetic, funny, fantastic, relatable—this dingo is a wild dog!"
—Kirkus

"An all’s-well-that-ends-well resolution sows anticipation for the next installment of this brightly hued graphic novel series opener."
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2024-06-15
Strega Nona meets the singularity in this zany comic.

Dex, an almost 10-year-old “half Filipino, half American” dingo whose (offstage) parents live apart, longs to be the greatest at something…but what? Dex loves making lists, so when his teacher asks the kids to complete an assignment on what they want to be when they grow up, he starts brainstorming. When a rival nabs his first career choice (king), Dex decides to try his hand at being an inventor. His friends’ ideas for an invention “that we all need” are wild and unworkable. Then Syd the snake stresses that there’s already “too much ssstuff in the world.” So Dex creates an Infinity Room, and he and his best friend, Buckley Bat, throw together and program nanobots to eliminate excess stuff. The nanobots consume materials, only to replicate themselves exponentially, transforming trash into gray nano-goo. They’re programmed to spread; this invention literally can’t be put back in the box. Luckily, Nono, a rogue nanobot, can digest the gray goo and reconstitute it. Some of the lively cartoon art flips so that we can make Nono vomit up the goo! All the trash returns, perhaps for a sequel, but Foley has nimbly avoided both a too-simple solution…and universal obliteration. His energetic illustrations and off-the-wall story brim with action and humor; kids will be eager for more of Dex.

Frenetic, funny, fantastic, relatable—this dingo is a wild dog! (how to draw Dex and Nono, information on real nanobots)(Graphic fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews