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A new Cat Kid Comic Club book is coming from Dav Pilkey in November. Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives will continue the adventures of 21 rambunctious baby frogs and their friends — but in a series of short comics done in various media. The book will be released worldwide on November 30th.

“The Cat Kid Comic Club series is the continuing saga of 21 creative baby frogs and the club they share with Molly and their friends Li’l Petey and Flippy. In the new book Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives, the baby frogs all have different ways of seeing the world,” explains Pilkey. “In creating their stories and mini comics, I wanted to show the frogs’ individuality as they express themselves using different mediums, including photography, paper models, claymation, poetry, watercolors, and more. The imaginative baby frogs discover new ways to collaborate and see one another’s points of view. My hope is that by making one continuous story broken up by mini stories with a variety of themes, kids will want to create their own stories.”

B&N has some behind-the-scenes material on the book and it looks quite audacious, with photos of models and more. An example:
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PIlkey is one of the best-selling authors in North America with more than 30 million copies of his Dog Man books sold worldwide. The Cat Kid Comic Club series launched late in 2020 and was another instantaneous bestseller. At this moment Dog Man: Mothering Heights, the tenth book in the series, is the #5 overall bestseller in the US, with more than 800,000 units sold. The first Cat Kid Club book is #4 on the Children’s Frontlist Fiction list, with 350,000 units sold.

The blurb for the CKCC second volume:

Flippy, Molly, Li’l Petey, and twenty-one baby frogs each have something to say. Naomi and Melvin don’t see eye to eye and Poppy perceives the world differently than her siblings. Will the baby frogs figure out how to work together and appreciate one another’s point of view — both inside and outside the classroom?

The shenanigans are nonstop and the baby frogs’ minicomics are funny and full of heart. Creating stories within a story, author and illustrator Dav Pilkey uses a variety of techniques — including acrylic paints, colored pencils, calligraphy, photography, collage, gouache, watercolors, and much more — to portray each frog’s perspective. The kaleidoscope of art styles, paired with Pilkey’s trademark storytelling and humor, fosters creativity, collaboration, independence, and empathy. Readers of all ages will relish this joyful graphic novel adventure.

Pilkey and Dog Man are having a busy summer. Dog Man featured in the Billy Ireland Cartoon and Library Museum’s “The Dog Show: Two Centuries of Canine Cartoons.”

And Scholastic has launched the Dog Man and Friends Summer Camp, ten weeks of free downloadable activities that aim to encourage kids to be creative and have fun. The summer camp runs through August; there’s more information here and here.

In addition to his many other awards and honors, Pilkey was The Beat’s Comics Industry Person of the Year for 2019.

1 COMMENT

  1. Thank you for covering this type of graphic novel, Heidi. Lots of comics fans miss the fact that comics sell incredibly well to tweens right now; and that it’s mainly DC and Marvel floppies for senior citizens that are dying out. I wish DC would publish more superhero GNs for tweens like Superman Smashes the Klan and Superman of Smallville. It’s a shame Shazam! was a successful movie and DC produced nada for Shazam! tween fans. Give me less serialized soap opera floppies with Jim Lee-inspired art; and more Baltazar, Allred, Sen, Doc Shaner, and Gurihiru.

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