Dav Pilkey's Dog Man Event Aims for Guinness World Record

Scholastic will host a special one-night only free event to celebrate Dav Pilkey’s global phenomenon Dog Man, giving fans a rare chance to be a part of Guinness World Record history. Attendees will experience a live performance of the acclaimed Dog Man: The Musical from TWTheatricals, receive a signed copy of the new book Dog Man: Big Jim Believes, and meet Dav Pilkey himself.

On the heels of a landmark year of Dog Man milestones including Dav Pilkey’s completely sold-out “Power Up with Reading” Tour, this family-friendly free event will be held on Tuesday, December 9th at The Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend, Indiana (Tickets/advance registration can be obtained via this LINK beginning at 10:00 AM EST on October 30th).

Fans—kids and adults—will be invited to dress up as Dog Man and attempt to break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the largest gathering of people dressed as a comic book or graphic novel character. The current GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS holder is San Diego Comic-Con with 1,784 participants in 2015. For more about this special free event, visit LINK. 

To coincide with the November 11th publication of his newest book, Dog Man: Big Jim Believes, Dav Pilkey, whose books have long been associated with getting kids to love reading, will be appearing at sold-out “Power Up With Reading” events across the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, throughout the month of November, Global Dog Man Day celebration events featuring fun activities and exclusive giveaways are planned at thousands of bookstores, schools, and libraries across North America, the U.K. and Ireland, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. For a list of Dog Man and Dav Pilkey events, visit CelebrateDogMan.com. 

Pilkey, whose personal mission is to bring books into the hands of kids everywhere, will also visit kids from under-funded schools during his “Power Up With Reading” tour. Over the years, Dav Pilkey’s on-going support for students and educators in underserved communities have reached millions of kids and families and launched national literacy initiatives in collaboration with Little Free Library, Book Trust, Scripps Howard Fund, the Alliance for Young Writers and Artists, among many other organizations and institutions.  

In a statement, Dav Pilkey said, “I’m humbled and honored that I get to play a part in getting kids excited about books. I'm looking forward to meeting and celebrating together the heroes behind the scenes who change many people’s lives through the power of reading.”

This year’s fall celebration of Children’s Book Week (November 3–9) will mark a significant milestone as Dog Man serves as the official anchor of the nation’s longest-running literacy initiative. As part of the campaign, “Dog Man and Friends Power Up with Reading” celebrations will take place in schools, libraries, and independent bookstores across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Highlighting the importance of doing good, one of the themes in the Dog Man books, this initiative will reach nearly 7,000 schools and libraries and will include the distribution of thousands of books to young readers. For more information about Dog Man and Children’s Book Week, visit [link]. 

Breaking a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title will cap off an epic year for Dav Pilkey’s beloved canine superhero character. In January 2025, the iconic Empire State Building was illuminated in Dog Man colors to celebrate the theatrical release of the feature film Dog Man from DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures which made a triumphant debut at the top of the box office. Since the series launched to critical acclaim in 2016, each Dog Man installment has catapulted to the top of bestse

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