Dav Pilkey

Dav Pilkey (David "Dav" Murray Pilkey Jr.) is an American author, and illustrator of children's literature. Dav Pilkey has written and illustrated several bestselling and award-winning children’s books. He is best known as the author of the series, Captain Underpants, the graphic novel Dog Man, and the Caldecott Honor book The Paperboy.

As a child, Pilkey was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. He went to Christian Schools and was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit out in the hallway every day. As the writer says, he loved to draw and make up stories, so he spent his time in the hallway creating his original comic books. It was the very first adventure of Dog Man and Captain Underpants that later made the artist famous.

In another interview, the cartoonist admitted that he was never into sports, and just liked to stay at home and draw. And it was one of the things that he was good at, that's why he drew all the way through school.

"One of the things I loved about making comics was showing them off to my friends in school, and they were very receptive to them too. They always wanted to — they were always asking if they could take my comics home and read them to their brothers and sisters. And so it was a real feather in my cap being the classroom storyteller", says Dav Pilkey.

Later Pilkey graduated from Kent State University. One of his teachers in college advised him to become a children's writer because he liked Dave's stories and drawings. His first book was called World War Won (W-O-N) and was published in 1987. It was fiction, but it was the very first children’s book that he had written.

Since then, Dav has written and illustrated several bestselling and award-winning children’s books. His Captain Underpants series and Dog Man graphic novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into many languages.

For instance, Pilkey's first full complete graphic novel The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby (2002) appeared at No. 6 on the USA Today bestseller list for all books, and was also a New York Times bestselling book for Children's Middle Grade.

Dav Pilkey meets a lot with his readers and loves getting honest feedback from kids. He also runs his own YouTube channel.

Pilkey and his wife live on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Fun fact about the author's first name: Dave used to be a waiter at a pizza restaurant, and the letter E was broken on his nametag — it was the old-fashioned label makers with the red ribbon, so his nametag said D‑A‑V. The novelist left this writing for his future books.