Every Dog Man Book in Order, 1 to 15 (2026 List)

Your child finishes a Dog Man book in one sitting, laughs at the Flip-O-Rama pages twice, and asks for the next one before dinner. Then you open a store page and find fourteen titles, sticker books and a Cat Kid shelf. This list puts the Dog Man books in order, names the newest Dog Man book, and sorts the Dog Man series from everything that only looks like it.

Does the order of the Dog Man books matter?

Order matters a little, and more than in most comic series. Every Dog Man book tells its own adventure, so a child who starts at book 6 will follow the plot. What a new reader misses is who everyone is.

The cast grows with almost every book. Petey the cat starts as the villain, Flippy the fish turns up in book 2, a kitten clone called Li'l Petey arrives in book 3, and Petey's cellmate Big Jim joins later. Scholastic's Dog Man series page names the core cast as Dog Man, Li'l Petey, Petey, 80-HD, Big Jim and Sarah Hatoff.

The threads that carry over

Two threads reward reading in order: Petey's slow change and Li'l Petey's influence on him. A grumpy villain who softens over many books lands better when a child has watched every step.

The newest books also lean on what came before. Big Jim Begins and Big Jim Believes center on a character who appeared much earlier, and the jokes about him assume the reader knows him.

All 15 Dog Man books in order

The main series counts 14 books on shelves and one announced, all written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey for Scholastic. The first came out on August 30, 2016, and the release dates below come from Dav Pilkey's Wikipedia bibliography, checked against the order on Scholastic's series page.

The series ran at two books a year until 2019, then slowed. No main Dog Man book came out in 2022, the year two Cat Kid Comic Club books filled the gap.

The newest Dog Man book: A Sprinkle in Time

The newest Dog Man book on shelves is Big Jim Believes, released November 11, 2025. The next one is Dog Man: A Sprinkle in Time, book 15, which Scholastic announces for November 3, 2026, for age 7 and up.

Scholastic's description says the story follows Grandpa, Petey's father, as he "alters the fabric of time and space." Preorders are open, and Scholastic is pairing the release with a Dav Pilkey world tour, so expect the book to sell fast at school book fairs.

How to read the Dog Man series, step by step

A good start takes one book and about a week.

1. Start with book 1, even if a friend says skip it. Dog Man shows how a police dog and a police officer, both hurt in an explosion Petey caused, become one hero. Every later book assumes that setup.
2. Read the first chapter out loud together. Dog Man is a graphic novel, so let your child see how the panels run left to right and top to bottom. Point to the next panel when they lose the thread.
3. Do the Flip-O-Rama pages with them once. These pages show you how to flip one page back and forth so a scene moves like a cartoon. Kids who learn the trick read ahead to find the next one.
4. Keep books 2 and 3 on the shelf. Momentum dies in the gap between books. Two waiting copies carry a child from Unleashed into A Tale of Two Kitties without a library trip.
5. Let them reread. A child who reads book 1 four times is building speed and vocabulary. Rereading a favorite is normal at this age, so let them.
6. Hand over the pencil. The books present themselves as comics two boys made, and Scholastic posts free How 2 Draw videos for the characters. A child who copies one of those drawings is ready to make a comic of their own.

Try itCreate a personalized storybookYour child's name and photo, a story in minutes

Reading graphic novels with a reluctant reader

Graphic novels count as reading, and Dog Man was made with struggling readers in mind. Dav Pilkey was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia as a child, and Common Sense Media notes that his author's note tells kids how comics and humor helped him through early reading struggles.

Three habits help a reluctant reader. Take turns, with you reading the narration boxes and your child reading the speech bubbles. Ask what happens between two panels, since that gap is where a child does real inference, and never trade a Dog Man book for a "real" book as a reward.

Dog Man vs Cat Kid Comic Club vs Captain Underpants

Three Pilkey series share one shelf, and they are easy to mix up. Dog Man is itself a spin-off of Captain Underpants. Inside that world, Dog Man is the comic that George Beard and Harold Hutchins first made in kindergarten, and the Dog Man books carry those two boys' names as their pen names.

The five Cat Kid Comic Club books are Cat Kid Comic Club, Perspectives, On Purpose, Collaborations and Influencers. Scholastic's own Cat Kid page lists the same five. They are about making comics, which makes them a natural next step for a child who draws.

Where the 2025 movie fits

The Dog Man movie came out in US theaters on January 31, 2025, made by DreamWorks Animation and released by Universal Pictures (film page). It draws on the books' characters, with Petey, Li'l Petey and Flippy the fish at the center.

Treat the film as a doorway. A child who saw it already knows the cast, so book 1 reads like a prequel to a story they love.

What age is Dog Man for, and why kids love it

Scholastic lists the Dog Man books for age 7 and up, and Common Sense Media rates the first book 7+. In practice, 6-year-olds enjoy it when an adult reads along, and 9- and 10-year-olds keep rereading it for the jokes.

Kids love Dog Man for the same reasons adults roll their eyes. The humor is silly and often gross, the villains are cats and fleas, and the hero chases balls at the worst moment. Under the jokes, Scholastic lists the themes as "empathy, kindness, persistence, and the importance of being true to one's self."

Why the misspellings are on purpose

Dog Man misspells words on purpose. Common Sense Media points out that the books are supposed to look as if fourth-graders drew them for fourth-graders, misspellings included.

That choice tells a young reader that a comic does not have to be perfect to be worth making. If your child asks about a spelling, turn it into a game: find the mistake, then say the right word.

Common mistakes when buying Dog Man in order

Buying a long series goes wrong in a few predictable ways.

• Mixing up book 4 with the spin-off. Dog Man and Cat Kid is main-series book 4. Cat Kid Comic Club is a different series, so check the title before you call book 4 done.
• Counting sticker and coloring books. Scholastic sells Dog Man sticker books and a coloring book next to the novels. None of them carry a series number.
• Assuming the newest book is the last one. A box set bought in 2024 is already short Big Jim Believes. Check the count against Scholastic's series page before you call a collection complete.
• Starting a 5-year-old alone. Dog Man is built for independent readers around 7. A younger child can enjoy it, but only with an adult reading the bubbles.
• Treating the movie as a replacement. A child who saw the film has met the cast, not the books. Book 1 is still the best first read.

The edge case: a child who finished all 14

A child who has read every Dog Man book has two good moves. Cat Kid Comic Club keeps the same world and turns the focus to making comics, and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books in order offer a longer series with the same drawn-diary humor.

For more picks in that vein, try our list of books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid or the funniest books to make kids laugh. Bedtime can stay a shared event too, with our read-aloud books for kids.

Your Dog Man reading checklist

• Confirm the count. Fourteen main books are out, and book 15 is announced for November 3, 2026.
• Start at book 1, keep book 2 within reach. The first two set up the hero, Petey and Flippy.
• Read one chapter together. Show how panels flow, then let your child take over.
• Keep the spin-offs separate. Cat Kid Comic Club comes after a run of Dog Man books, as a bonus.
• Give the wait a project. A child who loves George and Harold can make a comic or a story of their own.

Kids who love making comics like George and Harold can also star in a story of their own. KidTeller turns your child's photo into the illustrated hero, writes a fresh story from any idea you type in free text, and draws it in a preset style or any style you describe in words. Story ideas by theme give a first plot in a minute.