 | "When I was a kid, I loved monsters. King Kong, the Wolf-Man, and the Creature From the Black Lagoon were my favorites. I collected monster cards and models, and decorated my room with monster masks and glow-in-the-dark monster posters. Monsters were great fun, until the lights went out. Then, in the darkness of my bedroom, all those 'fun' things didn't seem so fun anymore. I sometimes scared myself so much that I had to sleep with my light on and the bedroom door open." — Dav Pilkey |
Dav's love/hate relationship with monsters and "scary stuff" was the inspiration for Dragon's Halloween.
| "Sometimes the best story ideas come from personal experiences. You can take things that have actually happened to you, and exaggerate or change them to create totally unique stories." — Dav Pilkey |
The art in the Dragon books has been praised for its wild inventiveness. But Dav was not always encouraged to be so bold with his paintings.
| "I used to get in trouble back in elementary school art classes for making my trees orange and my skies swirly with polka-dots. So when I started the Dragon series, I deliberately gave everything wild colors. I wanted my readers to have 'permission' to see things differently than the way things are usually presented." — Dav Pilkey |
Since the publication of the Dragon series, Dav has received many illustrations in the mail from his readers.
| "Many of these pictures have odd color schemes, too--- green skies with yellow trees, and yes, even swirly, polka-dotted skies. I know there must be art teachers out there who are pulling their hair out in frustration, but I think it's wonderful. I love knowing that the Dragon books have influenced the way some children create art." — Dav Pilkey |
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