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 The author of When Cats Dream, The Moonglow Roll-O-Rama, and 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving returns in a tale inspired by his paperboy. When the whole neighborhood is still asleep, the paperboy is in the garage, rolling papers and filling his red bag to the top. With his faithful dog at his side, the paperboy sets off in a mood of contentedness and confidence. Full color. |
 This book was inspired in part by Dav's own childhood. He delivered an Ohio newspaper called "The Lorain Journal" when he was 13 years old. Although he hated getting up early in the morning, he did like the serenity and independence he felt riding his bike around in the dark, cold mornings. Dav did not, however, think of making a book about a paperboy until he was an adult.
| "I was walking my dog around 6:00 one morning, and I saw our local paperboy, Kinney Whitmore, delivering the papers on his route. He seemed so confident and happy, and he reminded me of the way I felt when I was a kid delivering papers in the quiet mornings." — Dav Pilkey |
So Dav decided to write a book about being a paperboy. He was having some trouble writing the story, so he forgot about it for a couple of years. Then one morning when Dav woke up, the story was in his head. He grabbed a pencil and a notepad, and about fifteen minutes later he had written the complete text. The book went on to receive a 1997 Caldecott Honor Award.
| "I was so surprised when The Paperboy won the Caldecott Honor Award. I can hardly even remember painting it. The only thing I recall is that I had to hurry up and finish it so I could start painting Make Way for Dumb Bunnies. I think I'm going to rush through all my books from now on!" — Dav Pilkey |
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 1. The newspaper that the Paperboy delivers (The Morning Star Gazette) was named after Dav's father's sailboat, The Morning Star.
2. The Paperboy's dog was modeled after Dav's dog, "Leia", who is best known as the star of the book, Dogzilla.
3. The illustration on pages 22 and 23 was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's most famous painting, The Starry Night (1889).
4. When Dav was painting this book, he forgot about bicycle helmet safety laws. When he remembered, he had to go back and paint a bunch of little helmets on the Paperboy throughout the book.
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