Mal is an elementary school student who doesn't want anyone to find out that he's secretly a genius, because then he might be forced to go to college. He wouldn't have time to be a kid anymore, and he definitely wouldn't get to see Megan, the girl he likes.

So he lets his mom think he's just off playing when in reality he's trying out his various inventions with Chad, his best friend and pet dog, who he taught how to talk. You'd think a secret genius might have an easy time, but unfortunately he has to deal with Zachary, who makes fun of him and thinks he's smarter than everybody, the possibility that Megan thinks he's a dork, and an essay assignment about what he wants to be when he grows up.

This is another one of my very old ARCs, picked up at a conference I attended years ago. I had to double check that it was the first volume in the series, because it felt like at least the second. It wasn't immediately apparent that Mal and Chad didn't have some kind of Calvin and Hobbes situation going on. The fact that Chad could talk wasn't explained until the end of the volume, and Mal being a secret genius wasn't mentioned until after he created a jet pack that accidentally launched his favorite stuffed animal into the sky, which I initially assumed was all just make-believe on Mal's part.

Mal's inventions were fun but, from an adult perspective, enormously risky, and I kept bracing myself for something bad to happen to him or his dog, even knowing that this was a Middle Grade graphic novel. He had a machine that could shrink him and Chad, but it was only through luck that he was able to reach it again so that he and his dog could change back to normal. Same with the time travel - he'd clearly done a little planning, because he had an additional few helpful inventions on hand, but it could have gone really badly. Maybe I wouldn't have been so braced for something to go wrong if it hadn't been for the jet pack incident and Chad's nervousness about Mal using it without testing it out in some way first.

I wasn't really a fan of the storyline involving Mal's crush on Megan, especially after Megan joined in (due to peer pressure, but still) on teasing Mal. Instead of having to apologize to Mal at some point, Mal just thought for a bit and realized that Megan hadn't actually wanted to tease him. Poof, all was forgiven and Mal's crush continued on.

So, the inventions are fun and Chad is a good dog and nice sidekick for Mal. I wish the "Mal has a crush on Megan" aspect had been cut or written differently, though, and I wasn't really a fan of the art style. All in all, this was okay, but I don't plan on reading more of this series.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Not bad - like some other reviewers have noted, a bit of Calvin and Hobbes lite, but that sort of vibe is probably inevitable with any decently written boy-and-anthropomorphish-sidekick tale nowadays. Dogs _and_ dinosaurs warrant a thumbs up.

I was all set to go 3 stars, funny late elem - intermediate read with a talking dog. Kinda like Calvin and Hobbes light. But then there were baby ankylosauruses and I was hooked. ( )

My students seem to be really enjoying this book. Although the kids who grab it are usually my lower readers, I think the story is easier to follow than the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, which has become so popular. The pages in my copy are falling out since so many kids grab it, so I'd be likely to purchase another copy. ( )

In my copy, some pages are chopped off at the top which was kind of a bummer. Still, these are two fun characters: Mal is a boy genius and his dog, Chad, talks and keeps him company on all adventures. Mal is teased at school and has a crush on a girl in his class, so most of the action centers around trying to be more accepted and getting the girl to notice him. Black and white comics.