- Graphic Novels
- Ages 6–10
- Comedy
Dog Man and Cat Kid
Book 4 of 14 in Dog ManView the full series
Dog Man teams up with Cat Kid, the unexpectedly sweet clone of Petey from book three, in a new adventure involving a movie-star villain. The book that cements the series' core ensemble and develops the Petey-as-reluctant-father storyline that gives the whole franchise its heart.
- Best for6–10
- FormatGraphic
- Length224 pp
- Read aloud~1 hr45 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Comedic
- Conversational
- Onomatopoeic
Tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Exciting
- Absurdist
- Heartwarming
- Warm
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Dog Man and Cat Kid is the book where the franchise finds the cast configuration it maintains for most of its run: Dog Man, Li'l Petey (now known as Cat Kid), 80-HD, and Petey functioning as an ensemble, their contrasting personalities generating both comedy and genuine emotion. The plot involves a showbiz villain and a rescue mission that lets Pilkey play with celebrity culture and movie-making tropes. More importantly, Cat Kid's established status as a character allows Pilkey to develop the parental relationship between Petey and his clone-son more fully, some of the most emotionally satisfying moments in the series occur in the domestic scenes between them. The action is as strong as ever; the heart is stronger. Required reading before Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas, which builds directly on what's established here.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 6–10
- Read aloud · 5–8
- Independent · 6–12
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Workable
Works well for
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
3 / 5 · Workable
Sensitive-child
3 / 5 · Mostly fine
Graphic intensity
2 / 5 · Mild
Best for
- Reluctant readers
- Laugh out loud
- Strong characters
- Gift book
Avoid if
No common reasons to avoid this one — a rare clean sweep on the sensitivity flags.
Particularly good for children who are…
- Reluctant reader
- Struggling with reading
- Making friends
- Neurodiversity or learning differences
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A reluctant-reader powerhouse: fast, funny and endlessly re-read — the kind of book that turns a non-reader into a reader. A classroom-library staple, not a teaching text.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific delight is watching the exhausted, gruff Dog Man and the unbearably kind Cat Kid figure out how to work together as a pair. The double-act is what the rest of the series is built on, and it's funniest here while still new. The volume that consolidates everything fans love about the franchise.
- Being special or chosen
- Breaking the rules safely
- Making a difference
- Trickery and cleverness
Why parents love it
The Dog Man for the seven-year-old who's already met Petey and Cat Kid — this is where the cast settles into the configuration the rest of the series runs on. Underneath the toilet jokes it's a story about a bad dad slowly figuring out how to be a slightly less bad one. Required before the next.
- Shared humour
- Quick to read
- Conversation starter
In the series
Dog Man.
14 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
Dav Pilkey.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
When you buy through the links above, we may earn a small commission — it never costs you more, and it never changes the books we choose. How we’re funded →