Credit should be given to Dav Pilkey. For a writer once considered so profane that his popular Captain Underpants was once on a banned book list, he sure has cornered the market for children's books that actually foster imagination and creativity. With the third entry in his Cat Kid Comic Club series, he finds characters continuing to find their voices as storytellers, doing so with vivid examples that embrace the endless potential inside every child. It isn't so much telling a story that will revolutionize the medium, but present something authentic to the creator. With "On Purpose," the story continues to reflect the value of the workshop process and even comments on the struggles with getting work published. Good luck finding a series as entertainingly frank about the writing process as Pilkey's story about a cat teaching tadpoles how to craft narrative. It's really difficult to write something this accessible yet informative in equal measure.
As in keeping with the other books, this is an entry that finds the reader connecting to a series of characters at different points on their creative journey. Pilkey has a knack for making childlike characters who are the right level of bratty while making them capable of learning valuable tips. This comes in handy when one has an impatient desire to be published immediately. While the rest of the story plays out, he complains that nobody likes his work and it results in a prescient lesson that part of the process is writing drafts and accepting feedback. With the familiar structure of stories, all done in different animation styles, the reader gets entertaining looks into the process that also helps to reflect Pilkey's encouragement to just go for stories no matter how absurd they are. By the end, it's a happy ending where everyone learns some lessons, all with a nice dose of perfectly timed humor.
If "On Purpose" serves any function, it's the ability to have children be interested in the writing process and desire to find their own voice. Here he manages to explore finding deeper meaning in the narrative and does so with such clever yet simple ideas that could speak to young readers. There's so much that attracts the reader, inspiring them to pick up their own pen and write. Whereas most would focus on telling thought-provoking diatribes, Pilkey is more interested in characters who speak to the childish imagination, who don't have to feature a lot of complexity and depth. These are definitely a worthwhile series of books that help to establish a new generation of writers. They may not be the most immediately refined, but who wants that as a child? Sometimes three pages to set up a juvenile punchline is what matters most. Cat Kid Comic Club understands that, and it's the greatest feature in this uniquely amusing lesson of creative arts.
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