The Diary of Dennis the Menace: Canine Carnage (book 5) by Steven Butler
| The Diary of Dennis the Menace: Canine Carnage (book 5) by Steven Butler | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: Five books in, and this series shows no signs of slacking on the clever, inventive japes. Here a reason to calm Gnasher down is met with a drive towards a noisy kind of TV fame. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 176 | Date: July 2015 |
| Publisher: Puffin | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9780141355849 | |
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I'm sure Dennis the Menace has a hate-hate relationship with school, but the nature of it is relevant when considering these books. The fact he goes at all is the cause for them in the first place – he originally was tasked with writing a journal as homework, and turned it into a menacing manual for us, his readers. But if he paid attention there he might realise £1,000 is not quite enough to build his own, self-aggrandising theme park, even if he manages to employ the bummy, booky, wimpy types behind the scenes. The grand sum is what Dennis intends to win when The Fame Factor TV talent show hits town. That, as we can easily foretell, is going to be very menacingly interesting, but that's not the site of the titular carnage – for that we have to rely on an unusual sleep-over…
It's one of the markers of these books that make them above average in quality, that they feature two very different plot beats and still manage to combine them in unexpected ways. On one hand we get the sleep-over, and the fall-out from that, and on the other the sustained drive Dennis and his menacing pals have to get their rock band (who knew?!) to the TV finals. Lesser books would have fewer elements, and stick to just one, much to the detriment of everything and everyone.
At the same time, it is a little awkward that the sleep-over fallout kicks in practically halfway through these pages – although what else do you expect, when pp25-31 are practically all an advert for the previous books in the series? They don't work as an expository recap – they're just puff. Having said that, 'puffy' seems an ideal adjective for all the pages in the franchise – they're ebulliently kinetic, with splodges here, arrows there, highlighting, circling, JUMBO fonts all over the shop – you barely settle your eyes on one spread before you turn to the next. This all of course makes the books very much in keeping with Dennis as well as suitable for his real-world equivalents.
This really isn't the real world, however close to reality the names of the TV judges are here. I think you need a sense of the fantasy when you keep referring to the snotty, wimpy types as smelling of books and bum – as I proved above, it's one step away from using 'gay' as an insult, and is still a little close to the bone. I'm not saying these books need to tone anything down – they're perfectly capturing the iconic spirit of Dennis, and with their quality they in no way shine anything like a black light on the many decades of what's gone before them. They're silly, they're quick, and they're clearly being taken to many hearts, as their immediate appearance in the World Book Day just a year after starting testifies. They are very successful and enjoyable, and we recommend them all.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
For a similar reading level, the novels in the series containing Big Nate Lives It Up (Big Nate, Book 7) by Lincoln Peirce have a lead with a different character, but equally enjoyable plotlines.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Diary of Dennis the Menace: Canine Carnage (book 5) by Steven Butler at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Diary of Dennis the Menace: Canine Carnage (book 5) by Steven Butler at Amazon.com.
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