Series · humor

Dragon

by Dav Pilkey

The Dragon series by Dav Pilkey has 5 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Dragon Gets By (1991).

Books: 5 books
First published: 1991
Status: completed
Last checked: 17 August 2026

Start here: Dragon Gets By (1991) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Dragon Gets By (1991)

Reading order

The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.

Book 1:
Dragon Gets By
Novel1991
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dragon Gets By
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Book 2:
A Friend for Dragon
Novel1991
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Friend for Dragon
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Book 3:
Dragon's Merry Christmas
Novel1991
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dragon's Merry Christmas
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Book 4:
Dragon's Fat Cat
Novel1992
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dragon's Fat Cat
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Book 5:
Dragon's Halloween
Novel1993
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dragon's Halloween
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About the Dragon series

Years before Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey's Dragon was his first recurring character: a gentle, accident-prone blue dragon living alone in a small house, whose five early picture books each follow him through one ordinary mishap-turned-misadventure -- taking in a stray cat he has no idea how to care for, bungling his own chores, throwing a Halloween party that goes sideways, hosting Christmas.

Pilkey wrote and painted the series with watercolors bought from a local grocery store, and the resulting look -- soft, loose, faintly homemade -- matches Dragon's own gentle, unhurried temperament. Where Pilkey's later work leans into broad slapstick and gross-out gags, Dragon is quieter and kinder: its comedy comes from a well-meaning character muddling through small domestic disasters rather than from villains, monsters, or toilet humor.

Originally published by Orchard Books between 1991 and 1993, the series later became a 67-episode stop-motion animated TV show (2004-2007) and was reissued by Scholastic as part of its Acorn early-reader line starting in 2019, with three of the five original books bound together as Dragon Tales.

How to read this series

Each Dragon book is a fully standalone story, so there's no strict reading order to follow -- pick whichever premise sounds appealing. This entry lists the five books in their original 1991-1993 publication order as given by their most detailed available source; the exact month-by-month sequence of the three 1991 titles (Dragon Gets By, A Friend for Dragon, and Dragon's Merry Christmas) could not be independently confirmed beyond that source, so treat the ordering among those three specifically as approximate rather than verified.

Scholastic's 2019-2020 Acorn early-reader reissue presents the books in a different sequence (numbered 1-5 starting with A Friend for Dragon) aimed at new readers rather than reflecting original publication order; this entry tracks original publication, not the reissue's numbering.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in Dav Pilkey's Dragon series?

5 picture books, originally published by Orchard Books between 1991 and 1993: Dragon Gets By, A Friend for Dragon, Dragon's Merry Christmas, Dragon's Fat Cat, and Dragon's Halloween.

What order should I read the Dragon books in?

Any order -- each book is a fully standalone story about the same gentle, accident-prone dragon character, with no ongoing plot connecting them.

Is Dragon connected to Captain Underpants or Dog Man?

No. Dragon is Dav Pilkey's earliest recurring character, predating Captain Underpants by several years, with no story connection to his later, better-known series.

Was Dragon made into a TV show?

Yes -- a 67-episode stop-motion animated series aired from 2004 to 2007, based on Pilkey's picture books.

Is Dragon still in print?

Scholastic reissued the series starting in 2019 as part of its Acorn early-reader line, with three of the five original books also bound together in a collection called Dragon Tales.