The Adventures of Captain Underpants

by Dav Pilkey, Dav Pilkey (Illustrator)

Overview

Acclaimed author and Caldecott Honor illustrator Day Pilkey provides young readers with the adventure of a lifetime in this outrageously funny, action-packed, easy-to-read chapter book. With hilarious pictures on every page, The Adventures of Captain Underpants is great for both beginning and chapter-book readers. And like Dav's other best-selling books of humor, it is sure to provide even the most reluctant readers with hours of fun.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338312676
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Series:	Captain Underpants Series
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Dav Pilkey has written and illustrated numerous popular, award-winning books for children, including the Captain Underpants and Dumb Bunnies series; Dog Breath, winner of the California Young Reader Medal; and The Paperboy, a Caldecott Honor Book. He lives with his wife in the Pacific Northwest. Visit him online at www.pilkey.com.

Table of Contents

1.	George and Harold	1
2.	Tree House Comix, Inc.	5
3.	The Adventures of Captain Underpants	9
4.	Mean Old Mr. Krupp	17
5.	One Day Very, Very Soon	21
6.	Busted	29
7.	A Little Blackmail	35
8.	Crime and Punishment	39
9.	Four-to-Six Weeks Later	45
10.	The 3-D Hypno-Ring	47
11.	Fun with Hypnosis	51
12.	Out the Window	57
13.	Bank Robbers	61
14.	The Big Bang	67
15.	Dr. Diaper	73
16.	The Extremely Graphic Violence Chapter (in Flip-O-Rama)	79
17.	The Escape	99
18.	To Make a Long Story Short	107
19.	Back to School	108
20.	The End?	117

Interviews

An Interview with Captain Underpants

Barnes & Noble.com: Did you always want to be a superhero -- or did you just "fall into" this job?

Captain Underpants: I've fallen into a lot of things in my life, but this job was not one of them. I was born to wear underwear and fight crime!

B&N.com: Did you have to undergo any special training to be a superhero?

CU: All you need to be a superhero is a heart that is pure, a mind that is strong, and underwear that is fresh!

B&N.com: You're always smiling! Don't you ever get irritated at George and Harold for causing so much trouble?

CU: No, those two boys have been a real help to me. I think every superhero needs a good sidekick. You know, Batman has Robin, Superboy has that flying dog thingy with the cape, and I have George and Harold. The only thing is that "George" and "Harold" don't sound like good names for superhero sidekicks. I've tried to talk them into "Fleegle" and "Buttercup," but, well, they're stuck in their ways, I guess.

B&N.com: How has all the publicity you've received from starring in Dav Pilkey's books changed your life?

CU: Well, I get recognized all the time. In the old days, when people saw me coming they often ignored me (or screamed). Now, they know my name and ask for autographs. They've always got requests, too, like, "Will you give my husband a wedgie?" It's great fun!

B&N.com: Do you have any dreams of starring in movies like some of your fellow superheroes have?

CU: Maybe.... I'm not sure who could play my part, though. Obviously, Leonardo DiCaprio is the first actor to come to mind (the physical resemblance astounds even me!), but I'm not sure he'd be up to the stunt work.

B&N.com: Who's your favorite superhero?

CU: Me! If I've learned anything from Whitney Houston, it's that "learning to love yourself is the greatest..." uh, something something something....

B&N.com: What do you like to do in your spare time (when you're not fighting crime)?

CU: A crime fighter's job is never finished! But on my breaks, I enjoy swimming and bowling (often at the same time, which really annoys the guys down at the bowling alley).

B&N.com: Don't you get cold running around in just your underwear?

CU: Nope. Wedgie Power keeps me warm!

B&N.com: Do you have any advice for kids who would like to join in your fight for "Truth, Justice, and all that is Pre-Shrunk and Cottony"?

CU: Yes. See my answer to your second question.

B&N.com: Well, thank you, Captain Underpants. I know you have plenty of bad guys to catch and millions of other things to do, so I'll keep this brief...er...short, and just say that it's been a pleasure meeting you -- and that you're an inspiration to everybody who wears underpants! (Jamie Levine)

Editorial Reviews

Few things command disrespect like the sight of a man wearing whitie-tighties. However, the bald and barefoot Captain Underpants happens to be a superhero. As one character notes, "Most superheroes look like they're flying around in their underwear....Well, this guy actually is flying around in his underwear!" The Captain, defender of "Truth, Justice, and all that is Pre-Shrunk and Cottony," is the comic-book invention of two troublemaking fourth-graders, George and Harold. He comes to life after the boys use a mail-order device to hypnotize their diabolical school principal, who sheds his outergarments and battles crime in only a cape and Y-fronts. As his creators try to snap him out of the trance, Captain Underpants threatens bank robbers with "Wedgie Power" and foils the villainous Dr. Diaper (" `You know,' said George, `up until now this story was almost believable' "). Pilkey (Dog Breath) uses a sitcom-like formula to set up the rivalry between the boys and the principal, and to strip the authority figure of dignity. After a tepid exposition, he falls back on the notion that undies and mild bathroom humor are funny in themselves and, given his intended audience, he's probably right. Line drawings of the slapstick action appear on every page, and "Flip-O-Rama" climactic sequences create an agreeably corny "motion-picture" effect. But the lowbrow jokes (the Captain uses an elastic waistband to apprehend an evildoer) chiefly constitute this tale's harmless, non-gross appeal. Ages 8-12. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Here's a chapter book filled with Dav Pilkey's offbeat humor. In a video for Scholastic, Pilkey admits that he invented the book's main heroic character in the second grade, where just the suggestion of bathroom humor was enough to send kids rollicking. So just who is Captain Underpants? The school principal, of course, so cleverly disguised that he himself doesn't know he's the good guy. The adventurous captain is duped into the role with the aid of a hypno-ring mail-ordered by two unruly boys. Pilkey's illustrations include a "flip-o-rama" chapter, which allows children to see movement and action cartoon-style.

Children's Literature - Karen Moroughan

Gr 2-4--Pilkey plays with words and pictures, providing great entertainment. The story is immediately engaging--two fourth-grade boys who write comic books and who love to pull pranks find themselves in big trouble. Mean Mr. Krupp, their principal, videotapes George and Harold setting up their stunts and threatens to expose them. The boys' luck changes when they send for a 3-D Hypno-Ring and hypnotize Krupp, turning him into Captain Underpants, their own superhero creation. Later, Pilkey includes several pages of flip-o-ramas that animate the action. The simple black-and-white illustrations on every page furnish comic-strip appeal. The cover features Captain Underpants, resplendent in white briefs, on top of a tall building. This book will fly off the shelves.--Mary M. Hopf, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

In the fine old tradition of James Marshall's Cut-Ups, Pilkey (God Bless the Gargoyles, 1996, etc.) introduces George Beard and Harold Hutchins, two usually responsible fourth-graders, as in "whenever anything bad happened, George and Harold were usually responsible."

Pranksters of the first order, George and Harold are finally nabbed by Mr. Krupp, the principal, whom they then hypnotize into believing he's Captain Underpants, a superhero of their own creation. Before they can stop him, he's out the window in cape and briefs, off to fight crime with Wedgie Power, taking on bank robbers, robot thieves—" `You know,' said George, `up until now this story was almost believable!' "—and ultimately the evil Dr. Diaper. Distracting Dr. Diaper with some "fake doggy doo- doo," the boys save the planet, then hustle Krupp back into his clothes, just in time for—their next adventure, The Attack of the Talking Toilets, coming soon. Pilkey's stubby black-and-white cartoon figures appear on every page but can be animated in one chapter, thanks to "Flip-O-Rama," where readers flip pages back and forth for the "latest in cheesy animation technology." There'll be no silence in the library once readers get hold of this somewhat classier alternative to Barf-o-Rama books and their crude ilk.

Kirkus Reviews