Scholastic to Publish New Book in Dav Pilkey’s #1 Global Bestselling Dog Man Series on December 3, 2024

Some howling good news to readers and moviegoers alike. Scholastic, the world’s largest children’s book publisher and distributor, announced today that a new book in the global publishing phenomenon Dog Man by Dav Pilkey will be published on December 3rd. DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures recently revealed that “Dog Man,” an animated feature film adaptation based on the blockbuster hit graphic novel series will be released in theaters worldwide in January 2025.

Dog Man: Big Jim Begins, the thirteenth book in the series, explores the origin story of Pilkey’s beloved Dog Man characters, and will land in stores in time for the holiday season and weeks before the global theatrical release of the movie. The announcement comes on the heels of the success of Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder released in March of this year and seized the #1 spot as the bestselling book overall (adult and children’s books combined) for five straight weeks* in North America and bestseller lists around the world. Since the series launched to critical acclaim in August 2016, there are more than 60 million Dog Man books in print to date with translations in 47 languages. 

Author and illustrator Dav Pilkey, whose first graphic novel was published nearly 22 years ago, said, “With this new book, I wanted to share the origin story of my characters, as readers get to know more about Big Jim—a character who is playful, kind, overly optimistic and often misunderstood, and who sometimes gets into trouble despite having the best intentions. Since the pandemic, I’ve been writing and illustrating books in the Dog Man and Cat Kid Comic Club series which has been a satisfying yet solitary experience. I’m grateful to all my readers—kids and their families as well as educators--who have sent me letters and messages of encouragement. Their support and enthusiasm have inspired me to keep making books. I am truly humbled and honored.”

“For nearly four decades, Dav Pilkey has been delighting kids with books that ignited their passion for reading,” said Ellie Berger, President of Scholastic Trade. “With Dog Man, Dav has created a vast universe featuring characters that kids can relate to and stories that make them laugh and clamor for more. There isn’t anything in the industry that has reached this level of success and fandom that Dog Man has achieved in seven short years. The massive impact of Dav Pilkey’s books cannot be overstated, and we couldn’t be more proud to be his publisher and help bring these books to the hands of kids everywhere.”

“Dog Man” film director Peter Hastings (Kung Fu Panda, Animaniacs, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants), said, “What I found so compelling about Dog Man is that it transcends culture and language, connecting and uniting kids and families everywhere with stories about friendship, love, bravery, empathy, epic adventures…and of course, a lot of humor. All of us at DreamWorks Animation are thrilled to once again be partnering with the incredibly talented Dav Pilkey and the team at Scholastic to bring Dog Man to the big screen--an iconic character known all over the world.”

With Dav Pilkey’s trademark humor and heart, the Dog Man series celebrates creativity and imagination and explores universally positive messages including the importance of doing good and striving to become a better version of one’s self, while it also tackles more complex themes including loss, redemption, and forgiveness. Most recently with Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder, Dav Pilkey delved into the world of artificial intelligence while making a gripping and comical commentary about the impact of social media. 

About Dav Pilkey

The publication of Dog Man: Big Jim Begins marks Dav Pilkey’s 38 years of writing and illustrating award-winning and bestselling books for children. When Pilkey was in second grade, he was diagnosed with dyslexia and what is now widely known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Because of his learning and behavioral issues in school, he was often sent out in the hallway. It was in his elementary school hallway where he created comic books about superheroes that eventually became Captain Underpants and Dog Man. Launched more than 25 years ago, Pilkey’s pioneering Captain Underpants series has more than 90 million copies in print, translations in 38 languages, released as a feature film by DreamWorks Animation, as well as an original series on Netflix. TheaterWorksUSA’s musical adaptations of Dog Man and Cat Kid Comic Club opened to rave reviews, were both New York Times Critics’ Picks, and are currently touring around North America and Australia. Dav Pilkey has created over 70 books for children and was awarded a Caldecott Honor for his picture book The Paperboy. His first graphic novel, The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, was an instant national bestseller and was published fourteen years before the first Dog Man book was released. For more information about Dav Pilkey and his books, visit https://mediaroom.scholastic.com/davpilkey.

About Scholastic

For more information about Scholastic, visit our mediaroom at https://mediaroom.scholastic.com/.  

(*Source: Circana Bookscan) 

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