Poor Marty embarrasses himself at his new school and is forced to sit with members of the Zeroes Club, Ralph and Skyler. Luckily for him, they are pretty cool new friends. While playing at Marty's house, they discover a robotic dog left behind by the previous owner, a mysterious inventor. They name their new companion Awesome Dog 5000. In an attempt to learn Awesome's "powers," Marty gets taken for a superflight around the neighborhood, unfortunately causing destruction to the mansion (and birthday-party preparations) of Dr. Crazybrains, who vows revenge on Marty! Each of the kids is relatable (Marty has "new kid" fears, Ralph has memorized tons of random facts, and Skyler is the "too cool for school" girl who no one really understands), Dr. Crazybrains hilariously fails at being an evil mastermind, and there are evil robots hiding among the chapters' illustrations that readers can hunt for in a creative interactive element. Fans of humorous illustrated novels, such as Dog Man and Bad Guys, will enjoy Awesome Dog's adventures, eagerly waiting for future volumes.

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)

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. (July)