SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: The Scarlet Shedder
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://pilkey.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 402
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
First name is pronounced “Dave”; born March 4, 1966, in Cleveland, OH; son of David Murray and Barbara Pilkey; married 2005; wife’s name Sayuri.
EDUCATION:Kent State University, A.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and illustrator.
AWARDS:Notable Children’s Book designation and Caldecott Medal Honor Book selection, both American Library Association, both 1997, both for The Paperboy; California Young Reader Medal, for Dog Breath! The Horrible Trouble with Hally Tosis, 1998; Disney Adventures Kids’ Choice Awards for “The Captain Underpants” series, 2007; Milner Award for Favorite Children’s Book Author, 2016; Publishers Weekly, Person of the Year Award, 2019; Comic Industry Person of the Year, 2019.
WRITINGS
Contributor to collections, including Silly Stories to Tickle Your Funny Bone (“Reading Rainbow Readers”), Chronicle Books (San Francisco), CA, 2000; I Love to Read! Four Original Stories for Independent Readers, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002; Comics Squad: Recess!, edited by Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm, and Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Random House (New York, NY), 2014. Contributor of forewords to The Art of Dreamworks Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, by Ramin Zahed, Titan Books (London, England), 2017; and The Art of Dreamworks Dog Man, by Ramin Zahed, Cameron + Company (Petaluma, CA), 2024.
The “Captain Underpants” books were adapted into a feature film, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, directed by David Soren and produced by Dreamworks Animation, 2017. The “Dumb Bunnies” books were adapted as an animated cartoon series produced for CBS Television. Books have been translated into Spanish. Dog Man was adapted into a musical theatrical production, book and lyrics by Kevin Del Aguila and music by Brad Alexander.
SIDELIGHTS
Considered one of the most popular contemporary authors for elementary-school-aged readers, Dav Pilkey is also regarded as a talented artist and inventive humorist, as well as a subtle moralist. Pilkey favors broad parody and farce based on art, literature, and popular culture, and his books target everything from monster movies, super-hero comic books, and modern art to science fiction and classic folktales. Sometimes to the chagrin of parents, he relishes the same lowbrow humor that appeals to his young readers, and his plots feature such subjects as mutated insects, the effects of dog breath, and carnivorous toilets.
Pilkey is best known for his “Captain Underpants” series of illustrated chapter books about two mischievous fourth graders—creators, like the young Pilkey, of their own comic books—who use a 3-D Hypno-Ring to transform their school principal into the bumbling but valiant crusader Captain Underpants. More than eighty million “Captain Underpants” books have been sold worldwide; as a result, Nara Schoenberg observed in the Chicago Tribune, “Pilkey is a phenomenon in children’s literature: the Pied Piper of reluctant readers (aka second grade boys); the star of Banned Books Week; the king of grade school potty humor.”
Pilkey grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and, because he had Attention Deficit Disorder with severe hyperactivity (ADHD), he quickly earned a reputation as an incorrigible class clown. By second grade, in fact, Pilkey was spending so much time standing outside in the hallway that his teacher moved a desk there just for him. Keeping this desk well stocked with pencils, paper, magic markers, and crayons, Pilkey spent much of the school day immersed in drawing, with the result that “I became an artist,” he once recalled to SATA.
“Then I began making comic books,” Pilkey explained to Sally Lodge in an interview in Publishers Weekly, “since they seemed to make my stories come alive.” He filled stapled-together sheets of paper with the adventures of several superheroes, one of which, Captain Underpants, would graduate to chapter books in later years. As Pilkey later told SATA, “These comic books were a real hit with my classmates, but not with my teachers.” One in particular “told me I’d better start taking life more seriously, because I couldn’t spend the rest of my days making silly books. Lucky for me, I wasn’t a very good listener either.”
After high school, Pilkey enrolled as an art major at Kent State University, where his freshman English teacher complimented his creative-writing skills and encouraged him to write a book. Thinking that this was an idea with some merit, Pilkey produced the children’s book World War Won, which won the grand prize in a national competition for college students and was published in 1987. A picture book written in verse, World War Won describes how the leaders of two animal kingdoms, vying for power, stockpile weapons to use against each other. School Library Journal contributor Susan Scheps wrote that Pilkey’s full-page colored-pencil cartoons “are of professional caliber” and that World War Won “provides a model for other hopeful young authors.”
Pilkey’s “Dragon” books, simple stories directed to beginning readers, feature a childlike blue dragon whose innocent, well-meaning nature leads him into humorous situations. In Dragon Gets By, for instance, the protagonist spends a day doing everything wrong: he reads an egg, then fries the morning paper before watering his bed and going to sleep on his plants. “With his excellent vocabulary choices and crafty characterizations … Pilkey has created a positively precious prehistoric prototype,” a Publishers Weekly reviewer stated of the work. In a review of Dragon’s Halloween: Dragon’s Fifth Tale, another critic in the same periodical concluded that “Pilkey’s series hero is affability incarnate.”
Pilkey launched his “Dumb Bunnies” series under the nom de plume Sue Denim. An homage to Harry Allard and James Marshall, creators of the “Stupids” books, the series features a family of clueless bunnies whose adventures are chronicled in deadpan text and brightly colored cartoons. Popular with young readers, The Dumb Bunnies was adapted as an animated series on CBS television in the late 1990s. At around the same time, Pilkey introduced a new series, the “Silly Gooses,” which is akin to the “Dumb Bunnies” in its depiction of anthropomorphic animals engaging in backwards behavior. The books feature Mr. and Mrs. Goose and their goslings Ketchup and Mustard, named after their parents’ favorite ice-cream toppings.
Pilkey’s The Adventures of Captain Underpants: An Epic Novel introduces two misbehaving fourth graders at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. Introverted Harold Hutchins and extroverted George Beard write comic books, and Pilkey described them in Publishers Weekly as “kind of like the yin and yang of my personality.” The boys’ nemesis is crabby principal Mr. Krupp, and after they hypnotize him with a 3-D Hypno-Ring, Krupp transforms into the comic-book crime fighter Captain Underpants whenever he hears fingers snap. Clad only in his tighty whities and a cape and carrying a roll of toilet paper, Captain Underpants stands for “Truth, Justice, and ALL that is Preshrunk and Cottony.” This scantily clad and somewhat flabby super hero tackles bank robbers and robot thieves by giving them wedgies, and attempts to foil the efforts of the evil Dr. Diaper to control the world. After Captain Underpants saves the planet, Harold and George de-hypnotize him and hustle him back into his principal clothes. Pilkey illustrated The Adventures of Captain Underpants with black-and-white cartoons, and also animated one chapter using flip-book-type illustrations. Writing in Booklist, Stephanie Zvirin noted of the first “Captain Underpants” story that Pilkey’s “humor is on target for some kids in this age group.”
The “Captain Underpants” saga continues with Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets, which relates how George and Harold employ the science project of school geek Melvin—a copying machine that changes images into matter—to publish their latest comic book. Inadvertently, they set loose an army of teacher-eating toilets led by the evil Turbo Toilet 2000. Reviewing Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets, a reviewer in Horn Book called it “part graphic novel, part tongue-in-cheek parody” and “very hip and funny.”
In Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space the two fourth graders fool the cafeteria staff into baking so many cupcakes that they end up flooding Jerome Horwitz Elementary School with goo. After the staff quits, Principal Krupp mistakenly hires an alien trio to take their place. When the aliens begin turning students into zombie nerds, Harold, George, and Captain Underpants must save the world from an alien invasion. In Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants the boys invoke the wrath of Professor Pippy P. Poopypants, a scientific genius who gets no respect because of his name, and when chaos ensues, Captain Underpants once again comes to the rescue.
George and Harold get more than they bargained for when they attempt the 3-D Hypno-Ring treatment on an angry teacher in Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman, and the two-part epic Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part I: The Night of the Nasty Nostril Nuggets finds school smartypants Melvin accidentally transforming himself into a giant that produces robo-boogers. In School Library Journal, JoAnn Jonas called the second part of this duology, Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part II: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers, “witty, fun, and full of adventure.”
In the words of School Library Journal critic Elizabeth Swistock, “Pilkey holds true to the formula his readers love” in Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers, in which George and Harold are transported back to kindergarten by Professor Poopypants (aka Tippy Tinkletrousers) and meet school bully Kipper Krupp, the principal’s nasty nephew. The boys’ time-traveling adventure continues in Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers, which features “a giddy, senseless plot; an invigorating antiestablishment streak; and Flip-O-Rama megaviolence,” according to Booklist contributor Daniel Kraus. George and Harold battle an old nemesis in Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000, the eleventh book in the popular series, and this installment “is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee,” as a writer opined in Kirkus Reviews. The twelfth book, Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-a-Lot, involves George and Harold’s duplicates, time traveling, and help from the pair’s grown-up selves to stop the suddenly super-intelligent Mr. Meaner from turning children everywhere into mindless rule followers. In Booklist, Shelle Rosenfeld lauded the “characteristically wacky and over-the-top escapades.”
Praising the “Captain Underpants” series as a whole—which was eventually re-released book by book with coloring by Jose Garibaldi—Tim Wadham wrote in School Library Journal that it is “one of the best series to get reluctant readers reading.” In the same periodical, Marlene Gawron noted that “the fun” of Pilkey’s books “is in the reading, which is full of puns, rhymes, and nonsense along with enough revenge and wish fulfillment for every downtrodden fun-seeking kid who never wanted to read a book.” Adding that the cartoon drawings and Flip-O-Rama pages make the work “so appealing that youngsters won’t notice that their vocabulary is stretching,” Gawron concluded; “Hooray for Captain Underpants!”
As a spin-off of the “Captain Underpants” books, Pilkey penned The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, thus inaugurating a series that follows a new creation by the imaginative duo. Punished with a writing assignment in which Captain Underpants is not allowed to appear, George and Harold spin a new tale about an infant who, doused in super-power juice shortly after birth, begins his crime-fighting career by wadding up a villain in toilet paper. Presented as the work of the middle schoolers themselves, The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby is “preposterously good-humored,” according to a Publishers Weekly contributor, while a Kirkus Reviews writer maintained that “young readers with elementary senses of humor will revel in the … silliness.”
In Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers, the thumb-sucking protagonist does battle with Dr. Dilbert Dinkle, an evil scientist who accidentally transforms himself into a sentient puddle of urine and prepares to wreak havoc on all the bathrooms in town. Adults might find the plotline lacking in taste, Travis Jonker warned in School Library Journal, “but that is precisely the appeal of this inspired bit of potty humor.” George and Harold are further credited as the authors of the graphic novel The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, in which two prehistoric troublemakers journey into the future to prevent an evil corporation from exploiting their village. “The humor is completely immature, and for the target audience, completely hilarious,” Jonker asserted of Pilkey’s story here.
Pilkey is also the creator of a book series with roots in science fiction. In Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot, a lonely little mouse befriends a giant robot that takes on school bullies, rescues the city from an evil rat scientist, and saves the world from an invasion of massive mosquitoes from Mercury. The series continues with titles that suggest a host of ridiculous plot conflicts: Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. the Mutant Mosquitoes from Mercury, Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. the Jurassic Jackrabbits from Jupiter, and Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. the Stupid Stinkbugs from Saturn. In typical Pilkey form, the last-named volume finds mouse and robot forced to defend the planet from a scourge of stinky litterbugs that plan to trash the planet for good. Noting the book’s appeal to reluctant readers, Elaine E. Knight commented in School Library Journal that Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. the Stupid Stinkbugs from Saturn contains a “short, easy-reading text [that] is highlighted by Pilkey’s off-the-wall, deadpan humor.”
With his “Big Dog and Little Dog” series, Pilkey takes the silliness down a notch and homes in on the toddler set by using minimal text and large-scale illustrations. In series opener Big Dog and Little Dog, two canine companions go for walks, play in puddles, and snuggle together, all while demonstrating the sweet and fun-loving sides of their personalities. Another installment, Making a Mistake, describes what happens when the duo mistake a skunk for a kitten and then disrupt a party. Writing in School Library Journal, Maura Bresnahan observed that the simple sentence structure and repetitive text “makes this board book ideal for those just learning to read.”
Drawing again on the popularity of his “Captain Underpants” series and its two heroes, Pilkey presents his “Dog Man” series as written and illustrated by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, respectively. Featuring a character invented in Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers, a policeman’s body with a police dog’s head, the series opener, Dog Man, finds the nefarious Petey the cat reeling off one evil plot after another, including the installment of an evil robot police chief, the destruction of all books, and a rebellion of living hot dogs—a “weenie-lution.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that the coloring by Pilkey’s longtime collaborator Jose Garibaldi helps make “every page of this superlative police procedural spoof look as sharp as it is silly.” In Booklist, Jesse Karp affirmed that with Dog Man, Pilkey “has again fired an arrow of joy straight at the fevered childhood psyche of millions of readers.”
In Unleashed, a trip to the pet store to get a fish for the police chief’s birthday results in pandemonium when Dog Man cannot resist chasing things around, provoking the salesman to give him an evil fish aspiring after world domination. Throw in a Tyrannosaurus skeleton brought to life by a paper version of Petey the cat, and only Dog Man can save the day. In Booklist, Sarah Hunter observed that “the frenetic plot … will have magnetic appeal for kids.” A Tale of Two Kitties finds Petey making a kitten clone, L’il Petey, and a psychokinetic fish and Beasty Buildings also come into play. A Kirkus Reviews writer appreciated this sequel’s “step-by-step instructions for drawing major characters and monsters.” Lord of the Fleas features a robot brontosaurus, evil fuzzy animals, and Petey and L’il Petey discussing the merits of being good versus evil, offering, according to a Kirkus Reviews writer, “laffs aplenty.”
Piggy has a new diabolical plot in Twenty Thousand Fleas under the Sea, in which scoundrels sabotage the Supa Buddies. A dog named Mister Stinkles drops the mini-jail containing Piggy, who has escaped and now enlists the help of henchmen from the Fuzzy Little Evil Animal Squad of fleas and moths to do his dirty work, but his squad turns out to be actually very friendly. Some serious issues are raised, such as the prison system and toxic social media. A Kirkus Reviews writer noted that “this adventure’s got something for just about everyone, including a heartwarming conclusion.”
[open new]In another “Dog Man” title riffing on classic literature, The Scarlet Shedder, Dog Man gains a new persona after a post-skunk-encounter tomato bath turns him red. With Dog Man facing prison time for moral “turpitude” (playfully defined in the back matter), Li’l Petey coping with memories of homelessness, and Dr. Scum aiming to take over the planet using diabolical AI robots, serious adventure is in the offing. A Kirkus Reviews writer declared that between the groan-worthy jokes and some dynamite Flip-O-Rama sequences, “it’s clear that Pilkey’s in top form here,” eliciting “gales of helpless laughter” even while engaging with notable themes. The reviewer affirmed that Pilkey “leverages the silliness” to make shrewd points, with The Scarlet Shedder altogether amounting to “wise foolishness from the master.”
The “Dog Man” series welcomes an outsized new do-gooder in Big Jim Begins. Cheerfully larger-than-life, Big Jim happens to be occupying a cell in Cat Jail alongside Grampa. In his youth, a UFO dropped a note declaring that Big Jim would fulfill a very old prophecy, and with Grampa enlisted as sidekick Sprinkles, he sneaks out of jail to save the world as Commander Cupcake. The Scarlet Shedder gets involved as some terrifying Space Cuties From Space render Commander Cupcake’s services desperately needed. Pleased to find “both Pilkey’s trademark frantic pace and his gentle philosophizing,” and deeming Big Jim “endearing,” a Kirkus Reviews hailed Big Jim Begins as “full of laffs and food for thought, in equal measure.”[suspend new]
Li’l Petey takes center stage in Pilkey’s inventive graphic novel Cat Kid Comic Club. With the help of his trusty sidekick, Molly the tadpole, Li’l Petey organizes a comic-making workshop for the twenty-one boisterous offspring of Flippy the bionic fish. As Starla, Melvin, and the other baby frogs struggle to create cohesive narratives and wrestle with doubts about their drawing skills, Li’l Petey seizes the opportunity to teach his class valuable lessons about imagination, failure, and persistence.
Cat Kid Comic Club includes numerous excerpts from the froggies’ literary efforts, which boast such intriguing titles as Dennis the Toothbrush Who Wanted to Be a Dinosaur Lawyer, Monster Cheese Sandwich, and Chubbs McSpiderbutt. According to a writer in Kirkus Reviews, “Pilkey effectively mixes instruction and empowerment into the chaos, the frenetic panels … making both immensely enjoyable.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer called the work “a heartfelt celebration of coming into one’s own as an artist, with all its frustrations and joys,” and School Library Journal critic Paula Willey remarked that the volume “serves as a great introduction to the creative process and to the evolving question of ‘what is a comic?’”
The next book in the “Cat Kid Comic Club” series, Perspectives, finds Flippy, Molly, Li’l Petey, and a bunch of baby frogs disagreeing and not able to see the others’ different points of view. They learn about perspective, sharing feelings, and sadness following the death of a dog, through Pilkey’s “mix of revelation and in-your-face zaniness in busy, froglet-filled panels that take advantage of the anthology format to showcase comics’ versatility,” according to a Kirkus Reviews writer. Comics from the club members include time traveling frogs visiting the Great Chicago Fire, and Starla’s Shodo Gardens.
In On Purpose, the comic club members are each trying to find their purpose. Naomi has submitted her comic book, The Under Werewolves, focused on the universality of underwear, to a publisher, but it’s rejected because she treated all her characters the same, not taking into account that people are different. As the members ponder the concept of purpose, they create art and tell butt jokes. With a less developed theme than the other books, On Purpose nevertheless “presents the series’ now-trademark winning mix of sibling hijinks and club members’ comics, rendered in a variety of styles,” noted a critic in Kirkus Reviews.
Fourth in the “Cat Kid Comic Club” series is Collaborations, in which the siblings must clean their rooms before they make more comic books. They learn to collaborate to help each other clean and how to create collaboratively as they work on their comics together. Stories feature Frogzilla, Wendy and Raine writing a fictitious biography of their father, a thrilling Chubbs McSpiderbutt story, and a candy-centered mystery in Mallo Cop. The message is that small acts of kindness can have great impacts. In Kirkus Reviews, a critic explained how the formula allowed Pilkey to “showcase solid technical advice and different modes of storytelling within a frame that advances a family story.”
[resume new]Pilkey sends up inspirational literature in Influencers, which finds the Cat Kid Comic Club breaking up over prolonged conflict between the twenty-plus baby frog siblings. When Flippy tries to help smooth things over by handing dramatic Naomi a book about winning friends and influencing people, her piquant efforts play into the club members’ juvenile comics, including an entry in their satiric “Irritating People Ruin the World” series. A Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that, true to form, Pilkey “proffers a deceptively chaotic, devilishly clever exploration of his theme … and presents the tricky concepts with profound respect for his audience.” Influencers is “another winner.”[suspend new]
Beyond his dozens of humorous self-illustrated works, Pilkey has written and provided artwork to picture books that showcase the full range of his talents as an illustrator and present young readers with more serious and meditative subjects. Among these is The Paperboy, which was named a Caldecott Medal Honor Book. A young African American boy, accompanied by his dog, rises before dawn on a Saturday morning to deliver newspapers; after finishing their job, the pair head back to bed and dream about flying across the night sky. According to School Library Journal reviewer Wendy Lukehart, Pilkey “paints their shared experience with a graceful economy of language” in this “totally satisfying story.” The author illustrates his book with acrylic paintings that, according to Carolyn Phelan in Booklist, “include beautifully composed landscapes and interiors.”
Pilkey has occasionally illustrated other authors’ works, and of special merit is his work in One Today, a children’s book edition of the poem written by Richard Blanco for the second inauguration of President Barack Obama. With Blanco’s poem following the sun as it shines over picturesque life in America, Pilkey’s illustrations depict two children and their cat as they pace through the day, buying fruit, going to school, playing in the park, and eventually heading home. In Booklist, Amina Chaudhri noted Pilkey uses his “recognizably playful style and brilliant colors” to give life to the nature, scenery, and angled rays of sun that surround the children. A Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that the multiracial family in One Today “expresses in microcosm a hope for the whole country,” while a Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that “Pilkey’s visual interpretation fully—and joyfully—honors” Blanco’s acclaimed poem.
[re-resume new]Pilkey has also lent out his illustrative talents to humorous effect. In Angela Johnson’s Julius, a girl named Maya is gifted a great big pig by her grandfather. Maya and Julius make a rollicking pair, whether racing up the road like horse-and-rider or dancing around to jazz records with friends. In School Library Journal, Kimberly Olson Fakih affirmed that Pilkey “has a riot” depicting everything from Maya’s disgruntled parents to the joyful pig-and-person pair, as “color-drenched acrylic paintings and outsized proportions provide humor and affection in equal doses.”[close new]
Considering himself an unlikely success story, Pilkey feels a kinship with his young readers and greatly enjoys touring schools throughout the year. “There will be kids who will have posters they hold up that say that they’ve ‘got dyslexia like Dav,’ or they’ll tell me proudly that they have ADHD,” he told Washington Post contributor Michael Cavna. “I don’t call it Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I call it Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Delightfulness. I want kids to know that there’s nothing wrong with you. You just think differently, and that’s a good thing. It’s good to think differently. This world needs people who think differently; it’s your superpower.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Children’s Literature Review, Volume 48, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998.
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 1, 1992, Carolyn Phelan, review of Dragon’s Fat Cat: Dragon’s Fourth Tale, p. 1029; February 1, 1995, Mary Harris Veeder, review of The Dumb Bunnies’ Easter, p. 1009; March 1, 1996, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Paperboy, p. 1179; July 19, 1997, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The Adventures of Captain Underpants: An Epic Novel, p. 1819; May 1, 1999, John Peters, review of Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets; September 15, 2010, Kat Kan, review of The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, p. 57; September 15, 2011, Todd Morning, review of Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers, p. 54; February 1. 2013, Daniel Kraus, review of Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers, p. 63; July 1, 2015, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-a-Lot, p. 68; September 15, 2015, Amina Chaudhri, review of One Today, p. 58; August 1, 2016, Jesse Karp, review of Dog Man, p. 54; January 1, 2017, Sarah Hunter, review of Unleashed, p. 57.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, May, 1993, Betsy Hearne, review of Julius, p. 284; January, 1994, Roger Sutton, review of The Dumb Bunnies, p. 150.
Chicago Tribune, April 16, 2015, Nara Schoenberg, profile of Pilkey.
Horn Book, March-April, 1993, Ellen Fader, review of Julius, pp. 196-197; July-August, 1996, Mary M. Burns, review of The Paperboy, p. 453; November-December, 2013, Elissa Gershowitz, review of The Adventures of Captain Underpants, p. 131.
Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 1997, review of The Adventures of Captain Underpants, p. 678; February 1, 2002, review of The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, p. 187; July 15, 2012, review of Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers; January 1, 2013, review of Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers; March 15, 2014, review of Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot; June 15, 2014, review of Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000; June 15, 2015, review of Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-a-Lot; August 1, 2015, review of One Today; June 15, 2016, review of Dog Man; June 15, 2017, review of A Tale of Two Kitties; August 1, 2018, review of Lord of the Fleas; December 1, 2020, review of Cat Kid Comic Club; January 1, 2022, review of Perspectives; May 15, 2022, review of On Purpose; January 1, 2022, review of Collaboration; May 1, 2023, review of Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas under the Sea; February 1, 2024, review of Influencers; May 1, 2024, review of The Scarlet Shedder; February 1, 2025, review of Big Jim Begins.
Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2017, Josh Rottenberg, “Why Captain Underpants Author Dav Pilkey Played Hard to Get with Hollywood.”
New York Times Book Review, November 8, 1992, James Howe, “Perchance to Dream,” p. 57.
Publishers Weekly, December 21, 1990, review of A Friend for Dragon and Dragon Gets By, p. 56; September 20, 1993, review of Dragon’s Halloween: Dragon’s Fifth Tale, p. 30; February 22, 1999, Sally Lodge, “Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants Wins a Starring Role,” p. 32; January 28, 2002, review of The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, p. 291; September 15, 2003, review of Dragon’s Halloween, p. 67; September 29, 2003, review of Kat Kong: Starring Flash, Rabies, and Dwayne and Introducing Blueberry as the Monster, p. 66; August 17, 2015, review of One Today, p. 69; December 2, 2015, review of One Today, p. 31; May 16, 2016, review of Dog Man, p. 59; December 2, 2016, review of Dog Man, p. 89; December 2, 2020, review of Cat Kid Comic Club, p. 78.
School Librarian, spring, 2018, Wendy Worley, review of Dog Man, p. 42.
School Library Journal, March, 1988, Susan Scheps, review of World War Won, p. 174; March, 1996, Wendy Lukehart, review of The Paperboy, pp. 180-181; June, 1999, Maura Bresnahan, review of Making a Mistake, p. 109, and Marlene Gawron, review of Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets, p. 136; October, 2001, Tim Wadham, review of Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman, p. 129; April, 2002, Elaine E. Knight, review of Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot v. the Mecha-Monkeys from Mars, p. 120; June, 2002, Piper L. Nyman, review of The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, p. 108; January, 2004, Elaine E. Knight, review of Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. the Stupid Stinkbugs from Saturn, p. 104; January, 2004, Kristina Aaronson, review of Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part I: The Night of the Nasty Nostril Nuggets, p. 103; February, 2004, JoAnn Jonas, review of Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part II: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers p. 121; January, 2006, Carol L. MacKay, review of Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. the Uranium Unicorns from Uranus, p. 112; November, 2010, Travis Jonker, review of The Adventures of Ook and Gluk; January, 2012, Travis Jonker, review of The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers, p. 145; October, 2012, Elizabeth Swistock, review of Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers, p. 104; May, 2014, Kris Hickey, review of Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot, p. 90; August, 2015, Paula Huddy, review of Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-a-Lot, p. 81; November, 2015, Patricia Manning, review of One Today, p. 128; July, 2016, Lisa Gieskes, review of Dog Man, p. 63; January, 2017, Mahnaz Dar, review of Unleashed, p. 81; August, 2017, Kelley Gile, review of Dog Man, p. 80; March, 2021, Paula Willey, review of Cat Kid Comic Club, p. 90; December, 2023, Kimberly Olson Fakih, review of Julius, p. 75.
Time, August 27, 2001, “A Hero in Briefs: The Zany Author of the Captain Underpants Books Has Written a New One, and Tries to Explain Their Appeal,” p. F18.
ONLINE
Dav Pilkey website, https://pilkey.com (July 2, 2025).
Entertainment Weekly, http://www.ew.com/ (August 24, 2012), Keith Staskiewicz, interview with Pilkey.
Reading Rockets, https://www.readingrockets.org/ (April 1, 2021), transcript of interview with Pilkey.
School Library Journal, http://www.slj.com/ (September 16, 2012), Debra Lau Whelan, interview with Pilkey.
Today, https://www.today.com/ (June 7, 2018), Terri Peters, “‘Captain Underpants’ Author Shares How His Parents Inspired His Career.”
Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ (October 11, 2019), Michael Cavna, “Dav Pilkey Credits his ADHD for His Massive Success.”
WXYZ website, https://www.wxyz.com/ (February 17, 2025), Carli Petrus, “‘Dog Man’ Author-Illustrator Dav Pilkey Sits Down for Interview with 7 News Detroit ‘Kid Correspondents.'”
About Dav Pilkey
When Dav Pilkey was a kid, he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. He was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit out in the hallway every day. Luckily, Dav loved to draw and make up stories, so he spent his time in the hallway creating his own original comic books—the very first adventures of Dog Man and Captain Underpants.
Since then, Dav has written and illustrated a number of bestselling and award-winning children’s books, including the Caldecott Honor book The Paperboy. His Captain Underpants series and Dog Man graphic novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into many languages.
Dav lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, but his writing is inspired by children and adults around the world. His stories explore universally positive themes that celebrate the triumph of the good-hearted.
Dav Pilkey
USA flag (b.1966)
Dav Pilkey has written and illustrated numerous popular, award-winning books for children, including the Captain Underpants and Dumb Bunnies series; Dog Breath, winner of the California Young Reader Medal; and The paperboy, a Caldecott Honor Book. He lives with his wife in the Pacific Northwest. In 1996, Dav moved to Seattle, Washington. He then took a ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, WA where he has lived since 1999. He divides his time between Bainbridge Island, WA and Minami Izu, Japan.
Genres: Children's Fiction
New and upcoming books
November 2025
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Big Jim Believes
(Dog Man, book 14)
Series
Dragon's Tales
1. A Friend for Dragon (1991)
2. Dragon's Fat Cat (1992)
3. Dragon Gets By (1991)
4. Dragon's Halloween (1993)
5. Dragon's Merry Christmas (1991)
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Captain Underpants
1. The Adventures of Captain Underpants (1997)
2. The Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999)
3. The Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (1997)
4. The Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants (2000)
5. The Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman (2001)
6. The Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 1 (2002)
7. The Big Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 2 (2002)
8. The Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People (2006)
9. The Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers (2012)
10. The Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-boxers (2013)
11. The Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000 (2014)
12. The Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot (2015)
Official Handbook (2017)
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Big Dog and Little Dog
Big Dog and Little Dog (1997)
Big Dog and Little Dog Going for a Walk (1997)
Big Dog and Little Dog Getting in Trouble (1997)
Big Dog and Little Dog Wearing Sweaters (1998)
Big Dog and Little Dog Making a Mistake (1999)
The Complete Adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog (2003)
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Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot
1. Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot (2000)
2. Vs. the Mutant Mosquitoes from Mercury (2000)
3. Vs. the Voodoo Vultures from Venus (2001)
4. Vs. the Mecha-Monkeys from Mars (2002)
5. Vs. the Jurassic Jack Rabbits from Jupiter (2002)
6. Vs Stupid Stinkbugs from Saturn (2002)
7. Vs. the Uranium Unicorns from Uranus (2005)
8. Vs. the Naughty Nightcrawlers from Neptune (2016)
9. Vs. The Unpleasant Penguins from Pluto (2016)
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Captain Underpants Non Fiction
The Captain Underpants Extra-Crunchy Book O' Fun (2001)
All New Captain Underpants Extra Crunchy Book O'Fun 2 (2002)
The Extra Big 'N' Extra Crunchy Captain Underpants Book O' Fun (2011)
Captain Underpants Super Flip-O-Rama Sticker Book (2013)
The Captain Underpants Annual 2016 (2015)
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Dog Man
1. Dog Man (2016)
2. Dog Man Unleashed (2016)
3. A Tale of Two Kitties (2017)
4. Dog Man and Cat Kid (2017)
5. Lord of the Fleas (2018)
6. Brawl of the Wild (2018)
7. For Whom the Ball Rolls (2019)
8. Fetch-22 (2019)
9. Grime and Punishment (2020)
10. Mothering Heights (2021)
11. Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea (2023)
12. The Scarlet Shedder (2024)
13. Big Jim Begins (2024)
14. Big Jim Believes (2025)
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Cat Kid Comic Club
1. Cat Kid Comic Club (2020)
2. Perspectives (2021)
3. On Purpose (2022)
4. Collaborations (2022)
5. Influencers (2023)
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Collections
Silly Stories to Tickle Your Funny Bone (2000) (with William Joyce and James Marshall)
I Love to Read! (2002) (with others)
Dumb Bunnies Collection (2007)
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Picture Books hide
World War Won (1987)
Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving (1990)
When Cats Dream (1992)
Kat Kong (1993)
The Place Where Nobody Stopped (1994) (with Jerry Segal)
Twas The Night Before Christmas (1994)
Dog Breath (1994)
The Moonglow Roll-A-Rama (1995)
The Paperboy (1996)
Julius (1998) (with Angela Johnson)
The Silly Gooses (1998)
Dogzilla (1999)
God Bless the Gargoyles (1999)
The Hallo-Wiener (1999)
Merry Christmas, Dear Dragon (1999)
Make Way for the Dumb Bunnies (2004)
The Dumb Bunnies (2005)
The Dumb Bunnies' Easter (2008)
The Dumb Bunnies Go To The Zoo (2009)
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Graphic Novels hide
The Adventures of Ook and Gluk (2010) (with George Beard and Harold Hutchins)
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Omnibus editions hide
Dog Man: The Supa Epic Collection (2019)
Dav Pilkey
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This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.
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Dav Pilkey
Pilkey at a book event in 2018
Pilkey at a book event in 2018
Born David Murray Pilkey Jr.
March 4, 1966 (age 59)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Pen name Dan Pilkey
George Beard
Harold Hutchins
Sue Denim
Occupation
Comic book writer
Years active 1987–present
Notable works Dragon series
Captain Underpants series
Dog Man series
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot series
Dumb Bunnies series
Spouse Sayuri Pilkey (m. 2005)
Signature
Website
pilkey.com
Dav Pilkey's voice
Duration: 1 minute and 51 seconds.1:51
Pilkey talking about his childhood experiences, recorded 2019
David Murray "Dav" Pilkey Jr. (/deɪv/; born March 4, 1966)[1] is an American comic book writer of children's fiction. He is best known as the author and illustrator of the children's book series Captain Underpants and its spin-off children's graphic novel series Dog Man, the latter published under the respective writer and illustrator pen names of George Beard and Harold Hutchins, which are also the names of the two protagonists of the Captain Underpants series.
Life and career
Pilkey in 2019
Pilkey was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 4, 1966, to the Reverend David Pilkey, Sr. and Barbara, who was the church organist.[2][3] He has one older sister. Pilkey was brought up in a conservative Christian household and went to Christian schools throughout his life.
Pilkey was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia as a child.[4] In elementary school in North Ridgeville, Ohio, Pilkey was frequently reprimanded for his behavior in class and thus usually sat at a desk in the school hallway, where he created the Captain Underpants character.[5] In 1987, Pilkey wrote his first book, World War Won, an allegorical fable inspired by the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, in a national competition for student authors and won in his age category. The book's publication in 1987 was included in the award.[2]
The atypical spelling of his first name came when the "e" in "Dave" was left off his name tag while working at Pizza Hut.[6]
Pilkey graduated from Kent State University.[7] He married Sayuri Pilkey in 2005.[8]
“Captain Underpants” was published in 1997. Later, The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby was published in 2002 and was Pilkey's first full complete graphic novel. It appeared at No. 6 on the USA Today bestseller list for all books, both adult and children's, and was also a New York Times bestselling book for Children's Middle Grade. The first Super Diaper Baby graphic novel was published with Scholastic years before Scholastic created the Graphix imprint.[9]
Pilkey took a break from writing for a few years to care for his terminally ill father (who died on November 13, 2008), but in 2009 agreed with Scholastic to publish four new books.[10][11] The first two are graphic novels: The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, released on August 10, 2010; and Super Diaper Baby 2: Invasion of the Potty Snatchers, released on June 28, 2011. Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers was released on August 28, 2012, Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers was released on January 15, 2013, Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000 was released on August 26, 2014, and Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot was released on August 25, 2015. Additionally, thirteen Dog Man and Cat Kid Comic Club novels have been published since August 30, 2016.
Pilkey and his wife live on Bainbridge Island, Washington.
On March 25, 2021, Dav Pilkey announced on his YouTube channel that he and Scholastic would cease further publication of the book The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, and would remove it from retailers and libraries due to some characters in the book being stereotypes. Pilkey stated that he intended to showcase diversity, equality, and non-violent conflict resolution. He also stated that even unintentional and passive stereotypes are harmful to everyone. Pilkey will donate his entire advance, past, and future royalties from the book to organizations promoting diversity that are designed to stop violence against Asians.[12][13][14]
Publications
Dragon series
Dragon Gets By (1991)
A Friend For Dragon (1991)
Dragon's Merry Christmas (1991)
Dragon's Fat Cat (1992)
Dragon's Halloween (1993)
The Dragon series was originally published with Orchard Books. Scholastic then reprinted the series in 2019. Dav Pilkey used watercolors purchased at a local grocery store to paint the illustrations in these books. The series became a stop-motion animation TV show with 78 episodes from 2004 to 2007.
Dumb Bunnies
The Dumb Bunnies (1994)
The Dumb Bunnies' Easter (1995)
Make Way for Dumb Bunnies (1996)
The Dumb Bunnies Go to the Zoo (1997)
Pilkey authored The Dumb Bunnies series using the pseudonym, Sue Denim. The Dumb Bunnies were made into a television series by Canadian animation studio Nelvana in 1998 and 1999. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472245/
Captain Underpants
Main article: Captain Underpants
The Adventures of Captain Underpants (September 1, 1997)
Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (February 1999)
Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds) (September 1, 1999)
Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants (July 29, 2000)
The Captain Underpants Extra-Crunchy Book o' Fun (2001)
Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman (August 29, 2001)
The All New Captain Underpants Extra-Crunchy Book O' Fun 2 (2002)
Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part 1: The Night of the Nasty Nostril Nuggets (August 1, 2003)
Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers (September 30, 2003)
Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People (August 15, 2006)
Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Re-Turn of Tippy Tinkletrousers (August 28, 2012)
Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers (January 15, 2013)
Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000 (August 26, 2014)[15]
Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot (August 25, 2015)
Captain Underpants spin-offs
Further information: Dog Man
The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby (February 5, 2002)
The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future (August 10, 2010)
Super Diaper Baby 2: Invasion of the Potty Snatchers (June 28, 2011)
Pilkey authored the Super Diaper Baby books and Ook and Gluk under the pseudonyms of George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who are two of the main characters in the Captain Underpants series. In that series, George and Harold write and illustrate comic books together respectively and these are claimed in-story to be some of the comics they produced.[16]
Dog Man
Main article: Dog Man
Dog Man is also a spin-off of Captain Underpants, similarly said to be written and illustrated by George Beard and Harold Hutchins.
Dog Man (August 30, 2016)[17]
Dog Man: Unleashed (December 27, 2016)
Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties (August 29, 2017)[18]
Dog Man and Cat Kid (December 26, 2017)
Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas (August 28, 2018)
Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild (December 24, 2018)
Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls (August 13, 2019)
Dog Man: Fetch-22 (December 10, 2019)
Dog Man: Grime and Punishment (September 1, 2020)
Dog Man: Mothering Heights (March 23, 2021)
Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under The Sea (March 28, 2023)
Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder (March 19, 2024)
Dog Man: Big Jim Begins (December 3, 2024)
Dog Man: Big Jim Believes (November 11, 2025)
Cat Kid Comic Club
Cat Kid Comic Club (December 1, 2020)
Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives (November 30, 2021)
Cat Kid Comic Club: On Purpose (April 12, 2022)
Cat Kid Comic Club: Collaborations (November 29, 2022)
Cat Kid Comic Club: Influencers (November 28, 2023)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot
Main article: Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot (series)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot (2000)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Mutant Mosquitoes from Mercury (2000)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Voodoo Vultures from Venus (2001)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Mecha Monkeys from Mars (2002)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Jurassic Jackrabbits from Jupiter (2002)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Stupid Stinkbugs from Saturn (2003)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Uranium Unicorns from Uranus (2005)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Naughty Night Crawlers from Neptune (2016)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Un-Pleasant Penguins from Pluto (2016)
Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot Astro-Activity Book o' Fun (2016)
Big Dog & Little Dog
Big Dog and Little Dog Getting in Trouble (1997)
Big Dog and Little Dog Wearing Sweaters (1998)
Big Dog and Little Dog Making a Mistake (1999)
The Complete Adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog (1999)
Other books
World War Won (1987)
Don't Pop Your Cork on Mondays (1988) Illustrator only
'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving (1990)
The Place Nobody Stopped (1991) Illustrator only
Julius (1993)
Kat Kong (1993)
Dogzilla (1993)
Dog Breath!: The Horrible Trouble With Hally Tosis (1994)
The Moonglow Roll-O-Rama (1995)
The Hallo-Wiener (1995)
When Cats Dream (1996)
God Bless the Gargoyles (1996)
The Paperboy (1996)
The Silly Gooses (1998)
Comics Squad: Recess! (2014) contributor as author/illustrator for this anthology
Guys Read: Terrifying Tales (2015) contributor as author/illustrator for this anthology[19]
One Today (2015) illustrator only[20]
Awards
1986: The National Written and Illustrated by... Awards Contest for Students, ages 14–19 category, World War Won[21]
1997: Caldecott Honor Award, The Paperboy[22]
1998: California Young Reader Medal, Dog Breath!: The Horrible Trouble with Hally Tosis, published in 1994[23]
2007: Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, The Captain Underpants series
2016: Milner Award, The favorite children's book author [24]
2019: Person of the Year Award from Publishers Weekly[25]
2019: Comic Industry Person of the Year[26]
'Dog Man' author-illustrator Dav Pilkey sits down for interview with 7 News Detroit 'kid correspondents'
Part man. Part dog. All hero — and all anybody was talking about at the Royal Oak Music Theatre as families gathered to meet Dav Pilkey, the bestselling author & illustrator behind the Dog Man series.
'Dog Man' author Dav Pilkey interviews with 7 News Detroit 'kid correspondents'
Dav Pilkey visits Royal Oak Music Theatre
By: Carli Petrus
Posted 5:07 PM, Feb 17, 2025 and last updated 6:08 PM, Feb 17, 2025
"Part man. Part dog. All hero." — and all anybody was talking about Monday at the Royal Oak Music Theatre as families gathered to meet Dav Pilkey, the bestselling author and illustrator behind the "Dog Man" and "Captain Underpants" series.
This stop on Pilkey’s Celebrating Heroes Around the World International Tour! was presented by The Caboose: Sidetrack Bookshop for Kids in Royal Oak and 2 Dandelions Bookshop in Brighton.
"The wonderful thing about Dav Pilkey is that he is an inspiration to kids around the world. He is an inspiration to inspire a love of reading. He is an inspiration for celebrating creativity. And this tour in particular... it's celebrating everyday people who can do extraordinary things, extraordinary good deeds — and that is something that local independent bookstores do," Jenny Carney of Sidetrack Bookshop said.
Extended interview: Meet the local bookshop crew who helped bring Dav Pilkey to Michigan
The book tour also celebrates Pilkey’s recent release of “Dog Man: Big Jim Begins” and “Dog Man” the movie.
Families lined up outside the theater before the doors opened Monday morning, eager to see one of their favorite authors. Organizers say both events, scheduled for noon and 6 p.m., sold out.
"I'm so happy, because we've been on tour almost the last two months, and we're going to be going to Europe and Ireland, and it's just so amazing to see so many families come together to celebrate literacy," Pilkey said.
We thought what better way to interview Dav Pilkey than to enlist 7 News Detroit "kid correspondents" Lucy and Elle to help!
Elle: "How did you get the idea for Dog Man, did you have a pet dog?"
Dav Pilkey: "I did have a pet dog, and I've always loved dogs. And so when I was probably in 1st grade, I started drawing dogs all the time and then in 2nd grade I started putting little capes on them and they started flying around and that's kind of how Dog Man started."
Lucy: "If you could talk to yourself as a kid, what would you say?"
Dav Pilkey: "I think if I could talk to myself as a kid, I would say don't worry so much. Everything's going to turn out OK, because I had a lot of challenges when I was a kid. I had ADHD and I had dyslexia, and I think I was very self-conscious about those things, and I, and I worried quite a bit, but I would tell myself, 'don't worry, everything will be fine.'"
Related video: Watch full interview with Pilkey and 7 News Detroit's 'kid correspondents'
Pilkey has also been a big supporter of the WXYZ and Scripps Howard Fund's If You Give A Child A Book Campaign, gifting students in participating schools copies of his books.
He says if you give a child a book, "you open up their entire world."
Pilkey, Dav INFLUENCERS Scholastic (Children's None) $24.98 11, 28 ISBN: 9781338896503
The members of the Cat Kid Comic Club learn how to win friends and influence people.
The story opens with the shocking news that "the Cat Kid Comic Club is no more." It will surprise none of the club's loyal readers to learn that "weeks of bitter fights" among the club's membership of 22 baby frog siblings have led their exasperated father, Flippy the fish, to dissolve the club as punishment. That hasn't stopped the fighting, though, so Flippy reaches for Dale Carnegie's self-help classic and gifts it to drama queen Naomi, telling her, "You're a very smart kid but your people skills could use some work!" As in previous volumes, Pilkey proffers a deceptively chaotic, devilishly clever exploration of his theme, here the power of influence, and presents the tricky concepts with profound respect for his audience. While Naomi experiments with compliments and gifts to achieve her ends, the froglets share some of their comics, including "I Am Dr. Frederic Wertham," an entry in their series Irritating People Ruin the World, which is a parody of the Brad Meltzer-Christopher Eliopoulos series Ordinary People Change the World. This comic introduces readers to Wertham, the comic book-hating author of Seduction of the Innocent. A "Chubbs McSpiderbutt" comic presents the notion that "our viewpoints influence our experience," and the first drawing lesson after Flippy's inevitable restoration of the club unpacks the psychology of cuteness in making us "Feel the Feels!!!"
Controlled hilarity makes the concepts go down easy--another winner. (notes, fun facts) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
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"Pilkey, Dav: INFLUENCERS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A780840904/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=655c9694. Accessed 9 June 2025.
Pilkey, Dav THE SCARLET SHEDDER Graphix/Scholastic (Children's None) $14.99 3, 19 ISBN: 9781338896435
Dog Man takes on AI in his latest adventure. Guess who wins.
Since AI is built on predictive models, it hasn't got a chance in the Pilkeyverse. The story gleefully whipsaws readers from Chief and Nurse Lady's nuptials (not an eye will be dry after Li'l Petey and Molly's rendition of the traditional wedding theme) to Dog Man's encounter with a skunk (his subsequent tomato-juice bath turns him red, leading to his new Supa Buddy incarnation as the Scarlet Shedder) to Dog Man's imprisonment for the crime of "moral turpitude" to Dr. Scum's evil plot to "crush the world" with an army of AI robots to Petey's poignant flashbacks to his childhood experience with homelessness. Add in some truly inspired Flip-O-Rama sequences and many terrible jokes, and it's clear that Pilkey's in top form here. In between gales of helpless laughter, readers will engage with serious themes. The author leverages the silliness to explore the algorithm's dark side with the AI robots' plot to "distract, divide, [and] dominate" humanity, using stratagems readers may well recognize from real life. Hilariously, the robots' dialogue is rendered in a pixelated typeface straight from 1980s computing, undermining their boasts that they're "SMARTER / FASTER / and STRONGER than" humans. A concluding page of thoughtful notes provides some additional context (and defines turpitude). Human characters are racially diverse; Dr. Scum is a sickly green.
Wise foolishness from the master. (dramatis personae) (Graphic adventure. 8-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Pilkey, Dav: THE SCARLET SHEDDER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A791876764/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=30956097. Accessed 9 June 2025.
Pilkey, Dav BIG JIM BEGINS Graphix/Scholastic (Children's None) $24.99 12, 3 ISBN: 9781338896497
An endearing new character joins the Pilkeyverse.
Big Jim is a large, cheerful purple cat. He shares a cell in Cat Jail with the irascible Grampa, greeting every new day with a song, much to his cellmate's annoyance. By night, Big Jim "fight[s] forLiberty andCupcakes" as Commander Cupcake. Every superhero needs an origin story, and Big Jim's is this: When he was a baby, a UFO dropped a note declaring Big Jim a chosen one, who would grow up to "fulfill SUPA ANCIENT prophecies." (Readers will note that Grampa's origin story reveals some gaps in Big Jim's.) After deputizing Grampa as sidekick Sprinkles, Big Jim leads them out the Cupcake Exit to "save the world" (Big Jim) and "get out of jail" (Grampa). Mayhem ensues, involving a band of evil Space Cuties From Space and Dog Man in his Scarlet Shedder persona. Punctuated by flashbacks filling out Big Jim's story and Flip-O-Ramas aplenty, and referencing both Mr. Rogers and Monty Python, this outing is characterized by both Pilkey's trademark frantic pace and his gentle philosophizing. Big Jim's life hasn't been an easy one, which gives his sunny outlook resonance. Even at the story's close, it "has more loose ends than a spaghetti dinner," as Grampa complains. Fortunately, a sequel beckons. Human characters display a range of skin tones.
Full of laffs and food for thought, in equal measure. (cast of characters, notes, drawing tips)(Graphic fiction. 8-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Pilkey, Dav: BIG JIM BEGINS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A825128455/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c47615f6. Accessed 9 June 2025.
JOHNSON, Angela. Julius. illus. by Dav Pilkey. 32p. Scholastic. Nov. 2023. Tr $14.99. ISBN 9781338898330.
PreS-K--Jeff Mack, Mo Willems, and others have gone this route: presenting a story that makes no sense but has so much humor and heart that readers will love it anyway. Maya's grandfather, who splits his time between Alabama and Alaska, has a gift for Maya. A large pink pig, perhaps four times her size, named Julius, becomes her best friend and mentor, and she becomes his. Pilkey has a riot building the scenes of Maya's unpleasantly grim parents, who dislike Julius and his coffee-guzzling dribbling, and the joy of Julius, galloping down the road like the pony Maya always wanted. Every scene of them is a portrait of a mutual admiration society in a growth spurt, even as Maya makes Julius develop manners, and Julius makes Maya aware of how much fun it is "trying on hats and dancing to jazz records" with friends her own size and age. Whether this is an imaginary friend or a real pet, or any version of those, the team of Maya and Julius know how to be friends, rubbing off each other's rough edges. VERDICT Color-drenched acrylic paintings and outsized proportions provide humor and affection in equal doses. Readers will want to settle in for a second read.--Kimberly Olson Fakih
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
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Fakih, Kimberly Olson. "JOHNSON, Angela. Julius." School Library Journal, vol. 69, no. 12, Dec. 2023, p. 75. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A779118636/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2d3deec7. Accessed 9 June 2025.