Pikachu’s Global Adventure—The Rise and Fall of Pokémon is a compendium of short essays on the world of Pokémon, compiled by Joseph Tobin. It is good in parts, explaining the perceptions of Pokémon around the world, in Japan, in North America, in France and Israel, and it looks at the use of Pokémon in teaching. In fact, the start of the previous article was taken from an excerpt of Carole Weatherford’s article as quoted in this book.

The primary error in the book is its assumption that Pokémon has fallen. As we know, Pokémon has not fallen! If Pokémon has fallen, please explain the current release of the ninth movie, and the tenth in production (due Summer 2007 in Japan), the release and immediate success of Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (unheard-of when the book was produced), and the highly-anticipated release of Diamond/Pearl—I think the authors can’t come to terms with the shift in Poké-fans from rugrats/tweeny-boppers to household-income-earners. And second, it is inexcusable for the book to go to print with such misprints as “Diglet” and “Kengaskhan”.