Famous Porcupine: Dave
"I Felt Very Alone"
Dave misbehaved in school—a lot. He says that he did not have a good experience in elementary school: “I had a lot of challenges growing up in school. I felt very alone in a lot of ways.” He said he was separated from the classroom, often for hours every day—sent into the hallways to sit by himself because of his bad behavior.
We often think of a “class clown” as someone who loves misbehaving. Dave certainly seemed to fit that profile. (In an interview, he said that he holds the record for the number of crayons someone can stick up their nose at one time.) But in another interview, he said he hated being the class clown. “I didn’t want to be known as the kid who was always out in the hall, and I didn’t want to be known as the kid who couldn’t read very well.”
Dave also really struggled to learn, and reading was especially tough. Perhaps not surprisingly, Dave was diagnosed with hyperactivity (an old label for ADHD) as well as severe dyslexia. He thought he was stupid.
His teachers would routinely send him out into the hall to sit by himself. He managed to endure these longs stretches in the hallways by himself (which, it should be noted, don’t help with either hyperactivity or dyslexia) by drawing, inventing stories, and creating comics. He was once inspired to write a story about a principal in their underwear after his second-grade teacher said the word “underpants” and everyone laughed. (They laughed even harder when she shouted, “Underwear is NOT funny!”)
A Professor Noticed
Things didn’t get better in high school. Dave attended a really strict school, and he still struggled. He was still a class clown and was still drawing cartoons. His principal once pulled him out of class to berate him saying, “I know you think you’re special because you can draw, but let me tell you something: Artists are a dime a dozen. You will lever make a living as an artist!”
While in college at Kent State University, an English professor noticed his cartoons and encouraged him to write children’s books. A star was born. Once again we see how one important adult can make a difference in the life of a kid.
His books have now won numerous awards, including a Caldecott Medal for The Paperboy, drawn from his own experience delivering newspapers as a boy.
(To see this famous porcupine, click an arrow below.)
"I Might Have Had More Hope"
Dav Pilkey (he adopted the new spelling after the “e” was inadvertently left of his name tag at a pizza place he worked at) is probably best known for his Captain Underpants books. (If you don’t know your Professor Poopypants name, you can figure it out here. My name is Pinky Diaper Chunks, in case you were wondering.) These books have gone on to sell over 80 million copies, have been translated into more than 25 languages, and have encouraged many kids who often felt left out of the reading party to read.
Dav now likes to tell people, “If I had known that people can grow up with these types of problems and still turn out okay, I might have had more hope. Once kids discover that you can still be successful in life even if you’re not successful in school, I think they’ll develop more confidence and hope.”
Click here to read stories of more famous porcupines. Be sure to check out the book that inspired this series: Hugging Porcupines: Month-by-Month Strategies for Supporting Our Most Challenging Students.
Citations: The information for this story was drawn from several sources:
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