Influencers (Cat Kid Comic Club #5)

by Dav Pilkey, Dav Pilkey (Illustrator)

Overview

The newest graphic novel in the #1 bestselling series by Dav Pilkey, the author and illustrator of Dog Man!

Excitement grips the Cat Kid Comic Club as Li'l Petey, Flippy, and Molly inspire twenty-one baby frog siblings to continue making authentic and unique comics. Will Naomi and Melvin keep up their antics, or will they finally decide to straighten up and fly right? Will the creativity continue? Will the drama diminish? Find out in the next Cat Kid Comic Club!

The story is hysterical, thought-provoking, and full of action-packed mini-comics including "Frogzilla vs. Mechafrogzilla" and "RoboChubbs." "Two Birds" shows the value of viewing the world with a positive attitude.

Award-winning author and illustrator Dav Pilkey employs a variety of techniques — including acrylic paints, colored pencils, photography, collage, gouache, watercolors, and more — to capture the joyful spirit of creativity. The variety of art styles, paired with Pilkey's trademark storytelling and humor, inspires imagination and innovation for readers of all ages.

For more hilarity and heart, dive into the newest graphic novel in the Dog Man series: Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea. And don't forget the series that started it all: Captain Underpants! A new edition of The Adventures of Captain Underpants includes a brand new Dog Man comic!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338896503
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	11/28/2023
Series:	Cat Kid Comic Club Series
Edition description:	Library Edition
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	1,034,407
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	GN510L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 18 Years

About the Author

When Dav Pilkey was a kid, he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Dav was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit out in the hallway every day. Luckily, Dav loved to draw and make up stories. He spent his time in the hallway creating his own original comic books — the very first adventures of Dog Man and Captain Underpants.

In college, Dav met a teacher who encouraged him to write and illustrate for kids. He took her advice and created his first book, World War Won, which won a national competition in 1986. Dav made many other books before being awarded the California Young Reader Medal for Dog Breath (1994) and the Caldecott Honor for The Paperboy (1996).

In 2002, Dav published his first full-length graphic novel for kids, called The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby. It was both a USA Today and New York Times bestseller. He has published more than seventy books for children, including the bestselling Dog Man and Cat Kid Comic Club graphic novels.

Dav's stories are semi-autobiographical and explore universal themes that celebrate friendship, empathy, and the triumph of the good-hearted.

When he is not making books for kids, Dav loves to kayak with his wife in the Pacific Northwest.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Cat Kid Comic Club:

★ "Downright moving... it's a heartfelt celebration." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "Colorful, compelling, and laugh-out-loud funny." — School Library Journal, starred review

★ "Deceptively chaotic, devilishly clever... another winner." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Wise, funny, and whiplash inducing: Pilkey delivers again." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2023-12-22
The members of the Cat Kid Comic Club learn how to win friends and influence people.

The story opens with the shocking news that “the Cat Kid Comic Club…is no more.” It will surprise none of the club’s loyal readers to learn that “weeks of bitter fights” among the club’s membership of 22 baby frog siblings have led their exasperated father, Flippy the fish, to dissolve the club as punishment. That hasn’t stopped the fighting, though, so Flippy reaches for Dale Carnegie’s self-help classic and gifts it to drama queen Naomi, telling her, “You’re a very smart kid…but your people skills could use some work!” As in previous volumes, Pilkey proffers a deceptively chaotic, devilishly clever exploration of his theme, here the power of influence, and presents the tricky concepts with profound respect for his audience. While Naomi experiments with compliments and gifts to achieve her ends, the froglets share some of their comics, including “I Am Dr. Frederic Wertham,” an entry in their series Irritating People Ruin the World, which is a parody of the Brad Meltzer–Christopher Eliopoulos series Ordinary People Change the World. This comic introduces readers to Wertham, the comic book–hating author of Seduction of the Innocent. A “Chubbs McSpiderbutt” comic presents the notion that “our viewpoints…influence our experience,” and the first drawing lesson after Flippy’s inevitable restoration of the club unpacks the psychology of cuteness in making us “Feel the Feels!!!”

Controlled hilarity makes the concepts go down easy—another winner. (notes, fun facts) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews