Dav Pilkey author page

Dav Pilkey biography

Dav Pilkey is an author and illustrator of children’s books whose work includes the Captain Underpants, Dog Man and Cat Kid Comic Club series. As a child in second grade, he was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and he used time spent outside the classroom to make comic books about superheroes that later developed into Captain Underpants and Dog Man.

At college, Pilkey met a teacher who encouraged him to write and illustrate for children. He created World War Won, which won a national competition in 1986 and became his published book. Dog Breath, published in 1994, won the 1998 California Young Reader Medal.

The Paperboy won a Caldecott Honor in 1997. Pilkey’s first full-length graphic novel for children, The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, was published in 2002 as a spin-off from the Captain Underpants series.

Captain Underpants began in 1997. Dog Man launched in August 2016, and the series follows a superhero who is part dog and part police officer. Cat Kid Comic Club is a Dog Man spin-off that introduces readers to making comics.

Dog Man: Big Jim Begins was published on 3 December 2024. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga, written and adapted by Pilkey with full-colour illustrations by Motojiro, was scheduled for publication on 7 April 2026.

Dav Pilkey teaching resources

• Dav Pilkey’s official website provides author information, book pages for Dog Man, Captain Underpants, Cat Kid Comic Club and other series, book trailers, How 2 Draw videos and links to current Dav Pilkey events.
• The official Cat Kid Comic Club page provides printable comic-making sheets for children to create and share their own comics, linked to Dav Pilkey’s Cat Kid Comic Club series.
• Scholastic UK’s Dav Pilkey at Home activities page links to free downloadable Dog Man colouring sheets, How 2 Draw sheets, story-starter PDFs, character-creation sheets, Flip-O-Rama activities, word searches, fill-ins, bingo, mazes and word scrambles.
• Scholastic UK’s Dav Pilkey at Home videos page hosts videos of Dav Pilkey reading from his books, drawing characters including Petey and Piggy, and explaining the inspiration behind characters from the Dog Man series.
• Scholastic’s Cat Kid Comic Club and Dog Man activity guide is a 10-page PDF with story-idea worksheets, comic panels, perspective drawing, emotion-drawing activities, theatre and movement tasks, puppets and a short series introduction.
• Scholastic’s Dav Pilkey events page provides downloadable event materials, including a Hero Party event guide, event activities, a scavenger hunt, invitations, official logos and Power Up with Reading event activities.