What, you might well ask, is the Giggler Treatment? Better yet, what precisely is a Giggler? You won't find out until chapter 6 of Roddy Doyle's The Giggler Treatment, but for those of you who can't wait, here's the answer: Gigglers are "baby-sized and furry. Their fur changes color as they move." Their main occupation in life is to look after children and to punish adults who are mean or unfair to them. And the Treatment? Four words: "Poo on the shoe." The Gigglers have always been there. Since the first dog did its first poo. Since the first caveman grunted at his first cavechild. He stomped out of the cave, straight onto a huge lump of prehistoric poo. In his first children's book, Roddy Doyle, prize-winning author of such adult fare as Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The Barrytown Trilogy, and A Star Called Henry, gives free literary rein to his inner child. The result may surprise his older readers, but is guaranteed to please the Captain Underpants set with its frequent good-humored references to poo, rudies, bums, and other body parts and functions. Doyle bases his tale on a dreadful misunderstanding: Mr. Mack, a biscuit tester in a biscuit factory sends his sons to their rooms without supper for breaking a window. This piece of unfairness naturally warrants the Treatment, and so the Gigglers immediately rush next door to collect a walloping great lump of poo from a neighboring Irish wolfhound. Unfortunately, they aren't present when Mr. Mack repents. When the children later find out their father is headed into deep doo-doo, it becomes a race against time to save him from poo on the shoe.

Doyle takes this slightest of plots and piles on plenty of whimsy, from a talking dog to a race across Dublin via the Nile River and the Eiffel Tower. Chapter titles have names like "Chapter Something," "Another Chapter," and "The Chapter After the Last One"; there are frequent digressions into topics such as mountain climbing and the love life of Irish wolfhounds; the illustrations are fun; and there's an amusing glossary at the end that translates some of the Britishisms ("Plaster--Band Aid. Very useful if you are bleeding to death"). This good-natured romp through a comedic territory beloved by children (and more than a few grownups) will surely win the author whole new legions of fans. Indeed, it's highly unlikely that Mr. Doyle will ever have to worry about falling victim to the Giggler Treatment himself. (Ages 9 and older) --Petra Williams


From Publishers Weekly
Mister Mack is about to step in "dog poo" at the outset of this "robustly silly romp served up with a generous helping of Irish cheek," said PW. "Displaying a gleefully sadistic sense of timing, Doyle draws out the suspense to outrageous lengths." All ages. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5-The award-winning adult novelist offers a delightfully funny and gross book that should appeal to the many fans of Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" series (Scholastic). Gigglers are furry little creatures that punish adults who treat children badly by placing "dog poo" in their path. The action of this story actually takes place in less than a minute, as a cookie taster named Mister Mack heads for the poo planted by some well-meaning Gigglers. The misunderstood victim, however, doesn't really deserve the Treatment, so his children, his wife, one Giggler, and the dog that produced the poo rush frantically to prevent the disaster. Doyle's narrative jumps back and forth and includes many amusing diversions, including a history of Gigglers, secret information about dogs, and several appearances of talking cream crackers. Ridiculous chapter titles and a funny glossary of such Irish terms as "doing rudies" and "mind the poo" add to the humor. The plot gets a little too bizarre when Rover the dog takes a "shortcut" through Egypt and France, but even this nonsensical segment includes some funny bits. The comical pen-and-ink cartoons will bring additional giggles. The presence of dog poo as a major element will be enough to draw some readers, but the imaginative narrative and clever plotting make this more than just another silly read.Steven Engelfried, Deschutes County Library, Bend, OR Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle delivers his first book for children -- and it's guaranteed to make them giggle! The fun begins with the Gigglers -- a rascally bunch of elf-like creatures who look after children to make sure adults are being fair to them. Whenever adults are mean to kids -- be it by sending them to bed without supper, lying to them, or even making them wear clothes they hate -- they get the Giggler Treatment: poo on the shoe! In this deliciously rude, irreverent, and silly tale, a man's cookie tasting job takes a stinky turn when the Gigglers decide to take matters into their own hands. But this time, the Gigglers have made a mistake. Can the Treatment be stopped before Mister Mack takes that last, fateful smelly step?

ANNOTATION

A talking dog, the Mack children, and the small elf-like Gigglers themselves must try to stop the prank that the Gigglers have mistakenly set in motion to punish Mr. Mack for being mean to his children.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In his first story for children, Booker Prize winner Doyle (Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha) pens a robustly silly romp served up with a generous helping of Irish cheek. At the outset of the tale, Mister Mack, a biscuit tester, is about to step in "dog poo." Displaying a gleefully sadistic sense of timing, Doyle draws out the suspense to outrageous lengths, interrupting his narrative with chapter after chapter of digressions that keep readers squirming in their seats until does the patriarch step in it or doesn't he? Besides bulletins on the number of inches remaining between Mister Mack's shoe and the poo, the author introduces the dog behind it (the Mack family's pooch, Rover) and the small, furry, chameleon-like creatures called Gigglers who have gone to great pains to collect it (Gigglers watch over children and give adults who are unfair to them "the Giggler Treatment," or "poo on the shoe"), as well as Mister Mack's alleged offense. When the facts come to light, it's up to the Mack boys, their baby sister, the Giggler they have caught, Rover and their mum to avert the impending poo-disaster. A bracingly rude dose of fun. Ages 9-12. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

Dog-poo awaits Mr. Mack. This is the Giggler Treatment, a punishment for adults who have been mean to children. Gigglers got their name because giggle is what we do when someone steps in dog-poo--giggle, guffaw, embarrass, and inconvenience, but never truly hurt. Booker award-winning author Roddy Doyle tells us that Gigglers "look after children." The blurry little critters conjured by artist Brian Adjhar--who are no more than a few blurry pencil-strokes to suggest hats or bags on heads, wearing fuzzy sleepers, peering mischievously around corners, blending into whatever color they are next to (except purple), carrying expressions both merry and sly--sneak about like small Robin Hoods of the spirit, redressing the wrongs done to children everywhere. That he has the ear and eye for what will tickle children's fancy in a deep, funny, and fulfilling way shows the breadth of Doyle's vision. Under the anal humor, countless digressions, silliness, and antic illustrations is a message of serious comfort for children who are at the mercy of adult callousness. This rollicking romp also lets kids know that some adults are zanily, irreverently, and irrevocably on their side. A glossary explains Irish usage as well as providing further occasion for laughter. 2000, Scholastic Press,

School Library Journal

Gr 2-5-The award-winning adult novelist offers a delightfully funny and gross book that should appeal to the many fans of Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" series (Scholastic). Gigglers are furry little creatures that punish adults who treat children badly by placing "dog poo" in their path. The action of this story actually takes place in less than a minute, as a cookie taster named Mister Mack heads for the poo planted by some well-meaning Gigglers. The misunderstood victim, however, doesn't really deserve the Treatment, so his children, his wife, one Giggler, and the dog that produced the poo rush frantically to prevent the disaster. Doyle's narrative jumps back and forth and includes many amusing diversions, including a history of Gigglers, secret information about dogs, and several appearances of talking cream crackers. Ridiculous chapter titles and a funny glossary of such Irish terms as "doing rudies" and "mind the poo" add to the humor. The plot gets a little too bizarre when Rover the dog takes a "shortcut" through Egypt and France, but even this nonsensical segment includes some funny bits. The comical pen-and-ink cartoons will bring additional giggles. The presence of dog poo as a major element will be enough to draw some readers, but the imaginative narrative and clever plotting make this more than just another silly read.-Steven Engelfried, Deschutes County Library, Bend, OR Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Abbott Combes - New York Times Book Review

The story is, just by its premise, slightly naughty, but nicely so, never offensively. Has a child ever not tittered about body functions, be they of man or beast? (Second graders, it seems to me, should be ready to handle the book themselves; after that, anybody who can still see the pages. And it was made for read-aloud family fun, no matter how young the audience.) It's in sum, and not to damn the book with the clichéd praise of reviews, a delight. It really is clever, insightful, sensical, nonsensical, knowing, amusing, witty, wacky. It makes you laugh out loud; it makes you laugh to yourself. It gives you a contagious case of the you-know-whats.

Kirkus Reviews

Beware, all grown-ups who are contemplating being mean to a child. Do so at your peril. Pay no heed to this warning and you'll be in for . . . the Giggler Treatment! In this funny, very silly, and very gross story for middle graders, Booker-winning Irish author Doyle (for adults, Dunbar, Joyce THE VERY SMALL Illus. by Debi Gliori Harcourt Brace (26 pp.) Oct. 2000