Dog Man’s best trick? Getting kids to fall in love with reading! This blockbuster graphic novel series, starring a canine superhero, captivated readers and sold over a million copies last year alone. It’s a must-have for home bookshelves and libraries alike. "I'd give it 20,000 stars!" said one of our kid testers about the series.
The series is a best-seller for children's books; plus, the last two books in the series won a Good Housekeeping Kids' Book Award. The next installment, Dog Man: Big Jim Begins, out on December 3 and available for pre-order now, dives into the origin story of Big Jim, a character first introduced in the original Dog Man book back in 2016. "When I read books, I find myself wanting to know more about the characters’ childhoods," author Dav Pilkey shares with Good Housekeeping. "After writing and illustrating 12 Dog Man books, I felt it was the perfect time to explore what shaped these characters into who they are today."
Big Jim has extremely bad luck and often unintentionally gets in trouble. Despite this, he never blames others and sees the good in the world. In the opening of the new book, Big Jim finds himself in cat jail and reveals a secret about his past that is going to blow the minds of young readers (no spoilers). After he transforms into his alter-ego Commander Cupcake, he has to save the town from the new villains called Space Cuties. (Yes, they're adorable as they sound).
While the storyline may not delve as deeply as some middle-grade novels, readers in the 7- to 12-year-old age range will still pick up some impressive vocab and catch clever references to literature and history. Interestingly, Pilkey credits nature as a source of inspiration — an unexpected muse for a superhero-centric series brimming with humor and hijinks.
But the best reason to buy Dog Man lies in the power to get children — both struggling readers and nose-in-the-book types — so invested in the characters that they can't turn the pages fast enough to see what will happen next. The series has also inspired many children to start writing and drawing their own comics. In fact, a step-by-step guide to drawing some characters is included in the book's afterword.
Pilkey himself was a struggling reader. Diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD, Pilkey says that he was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit in the hallway. There, he created both Dog Man and Captain Underpants, another popular kids' series that he began publishing in 1997.
Fortunately, Pilkey's parents encouraged their son's creativity in both drawing and reading. "At home, I had the support of my parents who let me pick out whatever books I wanted to read," he says. "Reading without judgment made a big difference in my life. My mom would also read to me and with me. That’s what led me to associate reading with fun, and made me a lifelong reader."
Karen is a seasoned journalist who specializes in travel, book, lifestyle and food coverage. Cicero has visited almost every state with her family (look out Wyoming, she’s coming for you next!). She has spoken at several travel industry conferences, including PRSA and the Mid-Atlantic Tourism Alliance and was previously the senior editor at Parents. A mom who goes overboard for all the holidays, Cicero lives in the Christmas city itself: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
