By Dav Pilkey
Six Dog Man graphic novels in one box: a part-dog, part-man cop, the world's naughtiest cat, and enough goofy comics to keep a reluctant reader busy for weeks.
Dog Man is a police officer who's part dog and part man, the result of a bomb and a very fast surgery that the first book explains. Across six books he chases Petey, a cat who's the most evil creature around and, it turns out, the loneliest. It's all told in comic panels: slapstick, potty jokes, homemade inventions, and, under the goofiness, some real stuff about loneliness and forgiveness. This box holds the first six books, over a thousand pages, so a child who loves book one is set for a good long while.
If you're shopping for a child who says they hate reading, this is about as safe a bet as there is. The panels move fast and the jokes land quick, so a page turns before boredom sets in, and the pictures carry enough of the story that a shakier reader stays right with it. Six books in one box is the real value: a child who doesn't read can vanish into a thousand-plus pages and come out the other side reading. There's enough heart under the silliness that you won't mind reading it out loud again either. Yes, it counts as reading.