Scholastic to publish 13th in Dav Pilkey's Dog Man series ahead of film release

The 13th book in Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man series has been snapped up by Scholastic. 

Dog Man: Big Jim Begins will be published on 3rd December 2024 and will explore the origin story of the Dog Man characters. Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea, the 11th book in the series, was shortlisted for the Children’s Illustrated Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards 2024. 

"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", said Pilkey. "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."

"Dog Man", an animated film adaptation of Pilkey’s series produced by DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures, will be released in January 2025. Peter Hastings, director, 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 humour."

Ellie Berger, president of Scholastic Trade, commented: "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.”