When I was in school, Marmaduke books were a challenge to the Snoopy books by Charles Schultz in terms of which were more popular. Ironically, the boys favored Marmaduke while the girls favored Snoopy, largely because Marmaduke is more of the bad and obnoxious dog. Many of the bad things that Marmaduke does are similar to those that energetic and active boys do. Like playing staredown with the new dog, getting kicked out of the store for bad behavior and digging holes in the backyard. … more