Product Description

Imagine a wonderfully rude, children's version of "It's a Wonderful Life." At the beginning of the tale we have a good man, a caring man, heading for his job as a cookie-taster…but also heading for a terrible fate (he's about to step in something smelly.) Is this an accident (no!) Who's responsible? (the Gigglers, that's who! Elfen creatures whose pranks punish wayward adults.) What did he do to deserve this (he yelled at his children unfairly, but actually this was a bit of a misunderstanding….) Can the impending mess be avoided (Possibly!)

Working backward, Roddy Doyle spins the hilarious tale of Mr. Mack, his wife Billy Jean, his three children Robbie, Jimmy, and Kayla, their dog Rover (in many ways the STAR of the show) and, of course, the irrepressible, sometimes hasty, but well-meaning Gigglers.

A thoroughly silly, occasionally subversive, periodically tender, completely satisfying read.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #324436 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 112 pages

Amazon.com Review
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.

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Customer Reviews

The Giggler Treatment is Funny!
The Giggler Treatment is a funny book that takes place in Ireland. The chapter names are funny. For example, there is a chapter called Chapter Mammy Doyle because she said he could stay up late if he named a chapter after her. Different parts of the story are also funny. For example, there was one chapter that has nothing much in it except one very exciting thing at the end, and the very exciting thing was that a lady was walking in a park in Bombay and she nearly stepped on a snail. There is a voice in the book that said, "That wasn't exciting!" And then, the narrator says, "Well, the snail thought it was." It also teaches you Irish words, such as "giving out" which means "scolding and complaining." It says in the book that "parents are very good at it and they do it a lot."

In the book, there are little creatures called Gigglers. Gigglers are furry creatures that change colors when they are next something, like chameleons. Gigglers are not very good at turning purple. Whenever a grown-up is being mean to children, Gigglers put animal "poo" right where the grown-up is about to step. Then, the grown-up steps in the "poo," and that is what the Giggler Treatment is.

Kids in the second, third, and fourth grade would like this book, especially kids that like fantasy books.

The Giggler Treatment
This book is called "The Giggler Treatment". It is written by Roddy Doyle and illustrated by Brian Ajhar. It is a funny book for ages 8 and above. It's about these tiny little creatures called Gigglers who watch over children and make sure grown-ups are treating them fair. And if not, then they get "the treatment" which is little pranks that the Gigglers pull off. One day Mr. Mack is walking to his work when all of a sudden the Gigglers put a pile of dog "poo" (which is "poop") in his path. But it was by accident. The Gigglers made a big mistake. Mr. Mack didn't deserve the treatment! Even though he had sent his kids up to their room, he fixed it later on. But the Gigglers didn't know he fixed it. So Rover, Robbie, Kayla and Billy Jean have to stop him from stepping in the "poo". I found that there were some weird words in this story and I had no idea what they meant. Thankfully there was a glossary where you can look up almost all the words that sound weird to you. For instance, "plaster" means "bandaid". I would recommend this silly book to kids who like funny stories.

An "Adult" Roddy Doyle fan who loved it!
When Roddy Doyle said he had taken a break from his comedic "Barrytown Trilogy" and "Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha"-type writing to write the more serious "Star called Henry" trilogy, I was saddened. After all, Paddy Clarke is one of the best comedic Irish books ever and the Barrytown stories are nearly as good.
My fears were unfounded. "The Giggler Treatment" is the same type of immature genius that made me love Roddy Doyle as much as that other "RD" of semi-adult fiction, Roald Dahl. The book could have been written by Doyle's character, Paddy Clarke.
It will surely be marketed toward children, but any adult fan of Doyle's should pick it up. The illustrations are cute, too.