1. Dav Pilkey is best known as the author and illustrator of the children's book series Captain Underpants and its spin-off children's graphic novel series Dog Man, the latter published under the respective writer and illustrator pen names of George Beard and Harold Hutchins, which are the names of the two protagonists of the Captain Underpants series.
Dav Pilkey was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia as a child.
In elementary school in North Ridgeville, Ohio, Dav Pilkey was frequently reprimanded for his behavior in class and thus usually sat at a desk in the school hallway, where he created the Captain Underpants character.
In 1987, Dav Pilkey wrote his first book, World War Won, an allegorical fable inspired by the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, in a national competition for student authors and won in his age category.
Dav Pilkey took a break from writing for a few years to care for his terminally ill father, but in 2009 agreed with Scholastic to publish four new books.
On March 25,2021, Dav Pilkey announced on his YouTube channel that he and Scholastic would cease further publication of the book The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, and would remove it from retailers and libraries due to some characters in the book being stereotypes.
Dav Pilkey stated that he intended to showcase diversity, equality, and non-violent conflict resolution.
Dav Pilkey stated that even unintentional and passive stereotypes are harmful to everyone.
Dav Pilkey will donate his entire advance, past, and future royalties from the book to organizations promoting diversity that are designed to stop violence against Asians.
Dav Pilkey used watercolors purchased at a local grocery store to paint the illustrations in these books.
Dav Pilkey authored The Dumb Bunnies series using the pseudonym, Sue Denim.
Dav Pilkey authored the Super Diaper Baby books and Ook and Gluk under the pseudonyms of George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who are two of the main characters in the Captain Underpants series.