DOG MAN: BIG JIM BELIEVES BY DAV PILKEY COMING NOVEMBER 11, 2025

As a writer and illustrator who has inspired kids around the world to read for fun and made his ADHD and dyslexia his "superpowers," Pilkey’s Dog Man books explore multi-generational family and champion empathy and doing good. In a statement, Dav Pilkey said: “The Dog Man series has evolved to become a love letter to my parents. I am grateful to them for believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. Their optimism, support, and encouragement have made a tremendous impact in my life.

Since Dog Man launched to critical acclaim in August 2016, there are more than 70 million copies of the books in print to date, with translations in 48 languages. In the U.S., every installment in the series has clinched the #1 spot on national bestseller lists. Year to date sales in the U.S. for Dog Man are up 34% over the prior year with the most recent book, Dog Man: Big Jim Begins (published in December 2024), selling nearly 1.1 million copies to date in the U.S. alone*. In the U.K., where Dav Pilkey has been shortlisted for a British Book Award for Illustrator of the Year and Dog Man shortlisted for Book of the Year/Children’s Illustrated, one in three graphic novels sold are books by Pilkey*. Dog Man also saw tremendous growth in Canada where combined English and French sales for the series are up 73% over the prior year and continues to be the #1 bestselling children’s book series. In Australia, where a Dog Man book is sold every 2 minutes, Dog Man reigns as one of its bestselling children’s series of all time. Dog Man book sales in Spanish in Spain and Latin America are up 101% from prior year. Screen Rant recently crowned Dog Man, “the biggest comic book hero in years,” besting long-time classics Super-Man and the Hulk. (*Source: Circana Bookscan/U.S., The Bookseller/UK)

Following a successful theatrical run debuting at #1 at the box office, the Dog Man film adaptation from DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures will exclusively stream on Peacock starting May 30^th. The critically-acclaimed Dog Man: The Musical and Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical from TheaterWorksUSA, stage adaptations of Dav Pilkey’s hit graphic novel series, will be touring across North America through 2026.

Ellie Berger, President, Scholastic Trade, said, “Dav Pilkey is a trailblazer and passionate advocate for getting kids to love reading. The release of a new Dog Man book is a momentous global publishing event. November can’t come soon enough!”

The Dog Man series follows the hilarious and heartwarming adventures of the “Supa Buddies”: Dog Man, a lovable canine superhero, and his friends Li’l Petey, a curious kitten who embodies love, optimism, and hope, and 80-HD, a robot who expresses himself best through his art. The series explores universally positive messages including empathy, kindness, and striving to become a better version of one’s self, while it also tackles more complex themes including death, shared custody, and forgiveness.

About Dav Pilkey

The publication of Dog Man: Big Jim Believes marks Dav Pilkey’s 40 years of writing and illustrating award-winning and bestselling books for children. He is the creator of over 70 books for children and was awarded a Caldecott Honor for his picture book The Paperboy.

When Dav Pilkey was a kid, he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Dav was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit out in the hallway every day. He spent his time in the hallway creating his own original comic books—the very first adventures of Dog Man and Captain Underpants. In college, Dav met a teacher who encouraged him to write and illustrate for kids. He took her advice and created his first book, World War Won, which won a national competition in 1986.

Dav’s pioneering Captain Underpants series which popularized the illustrated children’s book category, has more than 90 million copies in print with translations in 37 languages, been made into a movie from DreamWorks, and adapted as an original TV series currently streaming on Netflix.

Dav’s foray into writing and illustrating graphic novels began in 2002 with the publication of The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby which was an instant national bestseller and released nearly fourteen years before the first Dog Man book was published. In August 2025, Scholastic will release a full-color edition of The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby.

Most recently, Dav has created a spin-off of the Dog Man series called The Cat Kid Comic Club.  This groundbreaking new series, which began in 2020, now includes five best-selling books filled with funny and fervent mini-comics. Readers will be encouraged to make their own comics through the imaginative triumphs and failures of twenty two baby frogs and one mischievous kitten.  Each book tackles a different theme, and shows how lessons in creativity often reflect lessons in real life.

Dav's stories are semi-autobiographical and explore universal themes that celebrate friendship, empathy, and the triumph of the good-hearted. The unconventional style of his graphic novels is intended to encourage uninhibited creativity in kids. When he is not making books for kids, Dav loves to kayak with his wife in the Pacific Northwest. For more information about Dav Pilkey and his books visit https://mediaroom.scholastic.com/davpilkey.  

About Scholastic

For more information about Scholastic, visit our media room at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/

Publication Date: November 11, 2025 | Scholastic/Graphix 

Hardcover ISBN: 9781546176183 | Ebook ISBN: 9781546176206

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