Scholastic will publish The Scarlet Shedder, the latest installment in Dav Pilkey’s phenomenally popular Dog Man series of children’s graphic novels, next year, the press announced in a news release.
The novel will be the 12th in the series, which follows a canine/human hybrid police officer sworn to protect his hometown from crime. The series kicked off in 2016 with Dog Man; most of the other books all have punny literary titles, including A Tale of Two Kitties, Fetch-22, and, most recently, Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea.
In The Scarlet Shedder, Scholastic says, Dog Man fights an army of artificial-intelligence robots in order to protect his city, the residents of which have shunned him after he was sprayed by a skunk.
“Dog Man started out as a character I created when I was in second grade, but the series has evolved into a love letter to my parents,” Pilkey said in a statement. “Looking back as a kid growing up with dyslexia and ADHD, my parents, who were my best advocates, let me choose whatever books I wanted to read—with no judgment. Their support and love was life-changing and helped me to become the reader, author, and illustrator that I am today.”
The Scarlet Shedder is slated for publication on March 19, 2024.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
