The Adventures of Captain Underpants is the first novel in the 10-part Captain Underpants series.
The book was originally published in hardcover by The Blue Sky Press in 1997.
The novel is considered appropriate for grades 2-5; ages 7-10
The Adventure’s of Captain Underpants is about George Beard and Harold Hutchins who are constantly pulling pranks and school, but also make and distribute their Captain Underpants comics. Mr. Krupp, the principal of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School dislikes children, but especially George and Harold. After the two friends take their pranks too far, Mr. Krupp blackmails them into doing whatever he wants, or they risk expulsion. In order to get back at Mr. Krupp, George and Harold hypnotize him and turn him into Captain Underpants. Without reading the directions, they pour water on his head to eventually pull him out of his hypnotized state - but they’ll never know that this action causes the hypnotized individual to go in and out of character when they hear fingers snapping. Looks like Captain Underpants is here to stay for at least 9 more books.
Dav Pilkey is the author and illustrator of The Captain Underpants series. He is also the author and illustrator of The Dumb Bunnies series; Dog Breath, winner of the California Young Reader Medal; and The Paperboy, a Caldecott Honor Book.
In 2nd grade, Dav first began creating comics, but his teacher was not impressed by his talents, or his sense of humor, “You’d better straighten up, young man, because you can’t spend the rest of your life making silly books.” It wasn’t until he attended college in 1984 that Dav was inspired to actually use his talents. His college freshman English teacher marveled at his humor and suggested he write children’s books after reading one of his hilarious comics doodled in his notebook.
The illustrations are comic book style drawings, with an occasional flip book of George and Harold’s comics.
The novel is 122 pages and easily accessible for readers. On each page, there is no more than half a page of writing.
According to the ALA, a challenge is “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.”
While this book is considered challenged, libraries do not ban books: “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources.”
Captain Underpants has frequently made the list of challenge books appearing at #8 in 2005, #4 in 2004, and #6 in 2002.
2006 - Challenged for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence.
2003 - Banned for insensitivity and being unsuited to age group, as well as encouraging children to disobey authority.
2001 - Banned in Naugatuck (CN) due to concerns that it caused unruly behavior among children
Offensive Language:
George and Harold refer to Mr. Krupp as “that old guy” and “Mean Old Mr. Krupp.”
The book also references and illustrates fecal matter which may offensive to more conservative individuals: “Dr. Diaper looked down at the doo-doo between his feet and turned bright red … He began to waddle toward the restroom … ‘I-I guess with all the excitement, I just … I just …” (77).
The book can also be considered to direct a disrespectful attitude towards teachers: “Help! The Incredible Hunk just ate up 15 folding chairs and the gym teacher!” “Oh no! Not folding chairs!” (13). Relationships between the boys and any adult in the novel is portrayed as extremely disrespectful.
Throughout the book there is also reference to undergarments.
The warning on Chapter 16 states that the next few pages will contain violence, however, it calls out anyone who would find the material offensive by flaming they should “stop being such a baby” (79).
Partial Nudity:
Throughout the book, Captain Underpants wears nothing but his underwear and curtains for a cape.
In Chapter 17, Captain Underpants removes his underwear and shoots it at the Evil Dr. Diaper, and then covers himself with a barrel. The illustrations never depict Captain Underpants naked, however the barrel indicates he is wearing no clothes and it can be implied the boys have seen him (their principal) in full nudity.
Violence:
At the end of Chapter 15, the boys are faced with robots looking to destroy them. Harold states, “We’re not going to have to resort to graphic violence, are we?” (78).
Chapter 16 is then titled “The Extremely Graphic Violence Chapter” and in a text box below includes a warning: “The following chapter contains graphic scenes showing two boys beating the tar out of a couple of robots. If you have high blood pressure, or if you faint at the sight of motor oil, we strongly urge you to take better care of yourself and stop being such a baby” (79).
Blackmail/Threats:
The principal can be considered a bully for blackmailing George and Harold to follow a list of rules and complete any and all chores he can think of or else he’ll show a tape of their shenanigans to the school board and get them expelled: “If you don’t want to be dead as long as you live, you’ll follow these rules exactly!” (37).
Misbehavior:
There are a number of pranks George and Harold pull on their teachers and peers. During a football game, George and Harold put bubble bath in the tubas and pepper in the cheerleader’s pompoms.
Many of the students performed in this book get the boys in trouble with the board, but some could potentially get them arrested (particularly if the boys were older).
Their behavior is not considered appropriate and parents and teachers alike don’t want children mimicking their actions.
*The book is also challenged for it’s crassness, poor grammar and spelling, and anti-authority themes.
Challenged at Orfordville Elementary School by parents Tom and Lauren Hartung. They claimed the book encouraged disrespect for authority and outrageous behavior, as well as containing violence and inappropriate language. The library voted to keep the book on the shelves.
Banned at Maple Hill School in Naugatuck, Connecticut, by officials who claim that 4th-graders were beginning to act like the mischievous characters in the popular series.
Banned at Page Elementary School after being challenged by parent and former teacher Dawn Ihry. She stated, “I didn’t care for the language. I didn’t care for the innuendos.”
Challenged at Riverside Elementary School by Pam Santi, the grandmother of a second-grader. She wanted the book banned from libraries and classrooms objecting to the toilet humor and bad grammar, “I just want children to be educated and not degraded. Reading that book, I think is degrading.” The book was voted to stay at Riverside because it is not considered mandatory reading.
The book contains practical jokes, toilet humor, heroes and villains, adventure, action, and violence. These are all categories that get boys interested in reading. One review by a seven-year-old boy states, “I like the part where they bring Dr. Diaper to the police station and tie him to the pole with underwear on his head and put a sign on him that says ‘Arrest me!’” The only objection Dominic had were the illustrations of Captain Underpants because he didn’t look real. Overall, Dominic’s rating was 5 stars.
Boys also have a hard time figuring out what their teachers want them to get out of the heavily metaphoric books they read in English class. Captain Underpants is a book that isn’t jam-packed with metaphors or themes - but is more of a straight forward and enjoyable tale of two young boys and their imagination.
This book is also explicitly NOT for grown ups. It has grammar and spelling mistakes, flying rubber poop, and robots trying to take over the world. The book is meant to be written from the perspectives of the 4th-grade protagonists who are obviously not (supposed to be) masters of the English language and want to defy authority.
The book also has the gimmicky Flip-O-Rama. This allows boys to actively engage with the book rather than sitting still for a long period of time reading a string of words. With the Flip-O-Rama, children can now physically interact with their literature and watch as it appears Captain Underpants is moving.
The book also has pages dedicated to George and Harold’s comic books. Kids who don’t like to read tend to gravitate more towards this style of literature because of the pictures. It’s still a children’s novel, but it comes across as a picture book/graphic novel hybrid that makes for easier reading.
Pilkey said his characters are based in part on teachers and principals he had between grades 2 and 5 – some of whom were villains who got away with it because they were authority figures.
"None of the children in my school, including me, thought to question them," he said. "So, I do feel there is real value in showing kids that not all authority figures are good or kind or honorable."
There is no denying that Captain Underpants can have questionable content, but I firmly believe the only content in question is the violence. I read Captain Underpants as a kid, which is shocking because it was geared so much towards boys. However, myself and many of my friends (boys and girls alike) couldn’t get enough of the hilarity and the adventurous nature of George and Harold.
Getting boys to read is a challenge that’s widely known in the world of Education. By catering to their interests, teachers and parents can create more life-long readers. Eventually we all grow out of the immaturity, but until then, a love of reading should be fostered so that children continue to read as they grow when they begin to explore new, mature content.
While we may not find practical jokes and rubber poop to be very funny as adults, we all used to chuckle at it as children. This series engages young boys with the comic book illustrations and interactive Flip-O-Rama, as well as the practical jokes. It also helps readers who struggle to feel confident. Because of the illustrations, the text doesn’t seem as daunting, and the spelling errors are almost a god-send because George and Harold struggle with spelling too. The overall physical and emotional engagement with the text makes it worth the read.
Although some may claim that George and Harold are no good, I find them to be great role models. They’re creative with their imagination and inspire the reader to form a friendship with them through a series of 10 books. They are also great friends to one another, sticking by each other when they could easily throw the other under the books for all of their shenanigans. And while authority is set in place to prevent chaos, we shouldn’t blindly follow those who lead us. George and Harold teach us to question the things adults do, especially if they don’t see right.
