The story "Gordon: Bark to the Future!" written by Ashley Spires was such a cute book. Having been a fan of her other stories I am happy that this one did not disappoint. It had the same cute charm with the perfect mixture of funny uniqueness. I loved the illustrations and the way the story was written it was easy to follow which is great for kids. This book is perfect for both dog and cat lovers! I am definitely going to add this one to our library.

Should you read "Gordon: Bark to the Future!"?
Yes! This book is perfect for any age. Reading this as an adult I was able to pick up on details about Gordon that children might not. Also, by having a dog it was easy to picture my dog as Gordon.

This is the second in the PURST series. It might make more sense if you have already read the first in the series, Fluffy Strikes Back. That said, it is a barrel of fun anyway. If you are not already a fan of Ashley Spires' Binky series, you are living a deprived life. If you have, or work with children in the 'beginning to read stages,' all these graphic novels are a must have.

It doesn't matter that Gordon is a dog, and and Binky is a cat. They are best friends and partners. They are also members of PURST. (Pets of the Universe Ready for Space Travel)
In this volume, Aliens (flies) have invaded the house in the middle of the night and captured Binky. Gordon's superior officer, Fluffy, has been neutralized. No one at PURST is responding to his calls for help. It's up to Gordon to save the day!

Gordon is not known for his agility and strength. His weapon is his mind, but none of his inventions have prepared him for this! He has a prototype that might help, but it has never been tested.

I can't help but love how goofy Gordon, the brilliant dog is. In the middle of dire circumstances, when he must decide what to do, he is distracted by his love of playing with his ball and steak.

Readers will love these humorous insights into his character. At last, when he manages to focus enough to get into his time traveling device, he unfortunately ends up a bit too far into the past.

I leave it to you, dear reader, to find out if Gordon can save his people and the world. I guarantee you will enjoy the wacky mishaps, the puns, and general sweet goofiness of the story and images.

It blows my mind how many books Spires has managed to spin out of a simple gag. You'd think the concept would get old but she manages to keep each volume fresh. Entertaining and holds up to multiple reads.

Gordon: Bark to the Future: Weak word play that makes for a passably cute comic for kids.

I tried to keep in mind how I would have rated this as a child, I really did. I think I still settled on three stars because I was reading Lord of the Flies aged 9 so I wasn't exactly easy to please.

Enter Gordon, a cute little spy dog whose partner has been captured and whose boss has been neutralised after an alien invasion of fly-like creatures come to earth. Gordon's entire world has been overtaken by these aliens. Gordon takes his time machine back by five years. But Gordon goes back too far because he is younger than five years and his boss is just a stupid kitty.

Gordon tries his best to save the planet, but gets distracted by dog things. There are cute jokes here for kids, as well as some teachings in ingenuity and thinking for yourself. Other than that, I feel there was no room for character establishment and development, especially for the cats, who I quite liked.

Conclusion
This is a pretty mediocre, fast-paced comic that you could throw at a kid to keep them busy for an hour. Not bad, but there is so much room for improvement. Loving the illustrations, though!

I myself did not understand the time travel in this comic, so I feel that children would have difficulty understanding it, too. But hey, maybe it's part of the fun.

Gordon's partner has been captured and his calls for help are unanswered. He goes in a time machine, supposedly to send him back 5 days, but accidentally goes back 5 years! Funny and perfect for emerging readers.

I know students are going to love the adventure of Gordon the dog, that now has to battle alien invasion
and save his family and friends using a time machine.
It is so good to find great humorous authors for children.
The facial expressions and Ashley Spires attention to detail in the characters and surroundings can't help
but make the reader smile (or laugh).

The Pets of the Universe Ready for Space Travel (PURST) are back as the "aliens" have upped the game and invaded Binky and Gordon's home. Now Gordon is all alone, desperate to save the day. But is he desperate enough to try an untested time machine? This story is a lot of fun! Just the right balance of humor and tension in the story. Gordon makes a great main character, although Binky is still my favorite. Be sure to check out the whole series.

Gordon must do something to save his humans and fellow PURST agents from the horrible alien invasion. Being Gordon, he decides to use his mind, and develops a time machine to go back five days to stop things before they start. However, a small problem arises when he goes back five years instead of five days and Gordon has to save the future in the past before he was even born without messing up the future. No easy task.

This another great PURST adventure with loads of fun moments watching Gordon confuse himself with past/present/future thoughts and puzzling things out while trying to not get distracted by his ball. It’s got all the classic time travel conundrums in a fun graphic novel featuring a noble, if sometimes fallible, dog secret agent. If you haven’t read the Binky the Space Cat books or Fluffy Strikes Back you probably should because they all lead up to this book and there are loads of references to past books in here. And besides, they’re all quite fun. Another great one from Ashley Spires. Highly recommended to animal lovers, graphic novel fans, and humor fans.

No content issues.

Gordon: Bark to the Future! by Ashley Spires is a spin off of the Binky graphic novel series for children. It is currently scheduled for release on May 1 2018. It's all up to Gordon now. His partner has been captured. His superior officer has been neutralized. And his distress calls to P.U.R.S.T. (Pets of the Universe Ready for Space Travel) have gone unanswered. That means he must fight the aliens alone! But Gordon's not a fighter, his deadliest weapon is his mind. So what's a genius dog to do? Time travel, of course! He'll use his new time machine to travel back in time, then he can stop the invasion before it happens. But there's a malfunction: instead of sending him back five days, the time machine sends him back five years! And now he's out of fuel! With only his wits to depend on, can Gordon get back to the future in time to save his friends and his humans?

Gordon: Bark to the Future! is a cute junior graphic novel featuring characters that fans of Binky and the P.U.R.S.T. Adventure series will be looking forwards to, but newcomers to the author will be able to enjoy almost as much. I like that Gordon is a quick paced graphic novel with minimal text, which is a great way to catch the attention of reluctant and emergent readers that are still gaining confidence in their abilities. Gordon's mishaps are fun and will make readers of all ages smile. Gordon's need to do the right thing, and the perseverance he shows in trying until he gets it right, is a great model for young readers as well. I enjoyed the amount of little details and jokes in the illustration that will bring readers back to re read, and I think in most cases they will notice new things the second, and maybe even third and forth time around. The story has action, humor, and some suspense- a little something for everyone. So readers that love animals, science, humor, or action will find something that they like with this series starter.

Imagine the agents of CONTROL as furry house pets and then the agents of KAOS as insects and you have the basic idea of PURST (Pets of the Universe Ready for Space Travel). These fearless pets each have their assigned space station (home) where they defend their humans from alien attack (insects). If you have read any of the Binky the Space Cat stories, then you know all about PURST. In this latest adventure, Binky is put out of commission by an alien invasion and Gordon must find a way to save everyone - his friends and his humans. "This dog's deadliest weapon is his brain," so he sits down to think up a plan. Using the time machine prototype is the only possible option, but when the aliens change the setting from days to years - Gordon may just be stranded in the past for good!

A mix of "Get Smart" and "Back to the Future," Gordon's quest has him working on his own in a past when there is no "equal opportunity program yet" and PURST is still FURST (a felines only agency). Binky is just a kitten with no training, so how can Gordon get back to the future without altering the past? As Gordon says, "The past needs a poop scoop because this place stinks."

Readers who enjoy funny stories about pets, secret agents, and time travel will have a great time reading the latest adventure of this deteremined canine agent from PURST.

The book was just okay for me and my son. I was hoping for something better. I probably won't get it for the school library just because I have limited funds.

I am already a huge fan of Ashley Spires Binky series, and this book revolved around Gordon The Dog did not disappoint. I loved the added background knowledge that this book gives on P.U.R.S.T. and would love to read more books based on Gordons life as a Space Pet. A perfect story for middle grade children, and a perfect introductory to graphic novels and comics. An absolute winner in my books!

I received this from #NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Gordon: Bark to the Future is a great introduction to graphic novels for kids. The illustrations are entertaining and the text does not overpower the story that the images tell us. Highly recommend this one for reluctant readers.

If you love Ashley Spires's Binky the Space Cat series, then you will love this volume which focuses on the family dog, Gordon, as he tries to stop an alien invasion with time travel! I'm a huge fan of Binky the Space Cat (because, duh, how can you not be), so I loved this. If you've got an early reader who likes funny stories with cats and dogs, then you need these books.

Also I love to support the works of my fellow Ashleys. We are legion.

**I keep forgetting this part - I was given a free digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

But to be fair, they didn't really give it to me, as it's expires in 60 days from the time I downloaded it.

Anyway, I requested this one for my son. He loves the Binky adventures, or now the P.U.R.S.T. adventures.

According to Ivan this was good, but not great. I think he is biased because he doesn't like dogs in general.

I read through it, it's a quick read, great for early readers. And I thought parts were really funny. Like "Holy Fuzzbutt!" and "Holy hair balls, that's confusing."

I laughed, but it wasn't my favorite thing. I'm afraid I'd have to go with a meh rating, too.

Another stellar Space Pet story--this time with Gordon at the helm. I appreciated the backstory of P.U.R.S.T. and all the excellent doggie humor. It's such a perfect graphic novel series for younger readers who are just getting into comics, and this new addition doesn't disappoint!

[Please note: Review goes live on the blog on May 1st]

Title: Gordon: Bark to the Future!
Author/Illustrator: Ashley Spires
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Summary and Thoughts: In another spin off in the Binky The Space Cat series, it is now up to Gordon (the dog) to stop the biggest Alien Invasion the Space Station has ever seen! Can he do it with his time machine? What happens when the Aliens change the time to travel to from 5 days in the past to 5 years in the past?

Honestly, one can never go wrong with Binky the Space Cat. The comics are short, sweet and appealing to all ages. In the new spinoffs, we're starting to read about other characters we know and love from P.U.R.S.T (the secret agency that Binky is part of). When Gordon accidentally goes too far in the past, before P.U.R.S.T., he has to figure out exactly how to fix the future without ruining that past with limited resources. Time paradoxes are easily explained in this comic as Gordon tries to make sure he doesn't ruin the future with his actions in the past (which he almost does).

One of my favorite bits though in this title happens to be the phrases kids are going to latch onto easily. For example: "Holy Fuzzballs!" When there's frustration, it's like the 1960s Batman show with the use of "Holy something silly." I can picture kids yelling "HOLY FUZZBALLS" because why not?

Spires' art, as usual, is animated without being animated and colorful with limited colors. The spacing of the panels is perfect for a beginning reader getting the idea of how comics work. There's usually no more than 6 panels to a page, all evenly spaced. It's really a nicely done, younger ages comic in terms of pacing, art, and panels. We even get to see kitten Binky as Binky does a very kitten thing: jump from a height way too high and land on his/her face. (Ok. I had a 6 month old kitten two years ago and what she did was get up as high as she could but couldn't get down due to a broken leg, but she would have certainly tried "flying" and would have landed on her feet.)

Overall, I highly recommend this latest addition to the Binky the Space Cat books. Readers get a chance to see that Gordon, while clumsy, can actually save the day if given the chance. Fans of dogs can also jump into this with little to no knowledge of the series. It is ideal for newly independent readers as well as older readers (parents will love this!). If you haven't gotten this series for your school library, classroom, or public library, you need to get them! If you already have them, get this title as soon as you can.
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Recommended Audience: Elementary and up.
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Things to be aware of: Nothing! Unless you think calling bugs aliens is bad.
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Publisher: Kids Can Press, 2018
$16.99,
ISBN: 978-1771384094

Source: Netgalley

Binky fans, Gordon's got his own adventure! For readers who love Ashley Spires' Binky the Space Cat graphic novels will love Gordon, fellow member of PURST (Pets of the Universe Ready for Space Travel) and Binky's house-mate, as he finds himself traveling through time to stop an alien invasion. But Gordon travels back too far - before PURST even exists! He's got to get back to his normal time and set things right! This is fun reading for graphic novel fans, and a nice addition to a popular series. There's time-travel, problem-solving, aliens, and humor, along with fun art.

I wasn't sure what I would make of this one. The stories with the "aliens" aren't my favourite of the Binky tales. But this was more fun than I was expecting it to be. It started out strong but did get a bit weaker in the middle. Thankfully, it managed to pull through or I probably would have been a bit disappointed.

The drawings are, as always, lovely. And Spires does a good job of conveying a lot of character and personality both in a very short period of time.

I do think that we could have done without the pooping and peeing, but I suppose that's to appeal to a younger reader than me.

All in all, a good addition to the PURST collection. I do want to go back to Binky the Space Cat in its original focus, but I'm not as distressed as I was when Spires started branching out. And we got to see a baby Binky which, while not enough Binky for me, was still a great addition.

A new twist to the Binky series. Still a cute story for little ones.