Humorous Representation of Bad Values: A Review of the Adventures of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey

George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the main characters in The Adventures of Captain Underpants, are pranksters of the highest order. In this installment of Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series, George and Harold pull off an outrageous series of pranks at their elementary school football game. However, unbeknownst to them, their evil headmaster, Mr. Krupp, has recorded all of their antics on videotape and proceeds to use the tape to blackmail them into behaving well at school and fulfilling his every whim.

After a few days of following Mr. Krupp’s rules, the kids recall a comic book advertisement for a “3-D hypnotic ring” that will allow them to hypnotize Mr. Krupp and seize the incriminating videotape. George and Harold continue with their plan, and in the process have a little fun with Mr. Krupp, making him believe he is Captain Underpants, George and Harold’s favorite superhero from their home comics, while he is under her hypnotic spell. . Silly jokes ensue.

This book has a tremendous subjective appeal: children will love it (I will…). The main thing that makes it attractive is humor. For example, Pilkey’s own turn of phrase is often hilarious. In the introductory chapter, he describes George and Harold as children who “were usually in charge… Whenever something bad happened, George and Harold were usually the ones in charge.” Children will also find the fantastical nature and scale of children’s pranks amusing. For example, they put black pepper on the cheerleaders’ pom poms, which makes the cheerleaders sneeze uncontrollably, they put bubble bath on the marching band’s horns so the band ends up blowing bubbles, and they replace muscle rub lotion from the football team with “Mr. Prankster’s Extra Rough Itch Cream.” And of course, the theme of potty humor throughout the book appeals to a child’s propensity (apparently natural, if my kids are any indication) for all things bathroom related.

Despite being genuinely funny, I give this book a low rating as it is woefully lacking in development value. In fact, my concern is that it will actually detract from a child’s character development. The book’s main flaw, as I see it, is that it casts the highly questionable values ​​of George and Harold in a positive light. For example, in Chapter 2, George and Harold sneak into the school office and make several hundred copies of their Captain Underpants comic book, which they proceed to sell at a profit on the playground. Also, in chapter 12, when the hypnotized Mr. Krupp launches into crime fighting as Captain Underpants, the reason the boys follow him and try to stop him is that they could get into big trouble if they don’t. . And, of course, they steal the video evidence of their disturbing pranks from Mr. Krupp’s office. By mixing children’s selfish attitudes and acts of theft with humor, Pilkey encourages approval of their attitudes and actions, which, in my opinion, is detrimental to a child’s character development.

Also troubling is the fact that all of the adult-child relationships depicted in this book are antagonistic: the book’s premise is an ongoing battle between the children and Mr. Krupp. In fact, this type of confrontational relationship between adults and children is the underlying engine of the entire Captain Underpants series. Now, while there are bad adults in the world (exemplified by Mr. Krupp), and while there is nothing wrong with depicting them in children’s literature, without parallel examples of positive relationships between adults and children, the bad relationships portrayed they only deepen the divide between adults. and kids. In my view, Roald Dahl’s Matilda is a better (although perhaps not yet perfect) model of how bad adult-child relationships should be treated in children’s literature.

Finally, most parents probably won’t appreciate the book’s painstaking use of petty humor either. While this point is more a matter of taste than a clear flaw in values, I am of the opinion that children do not need to be encouraged to go to the bathroom. They find their own way there quite often…

Before concluding this review, I must acknowledge several factors that give the book a modicum of developmental value. First, it is genuinely creative, which is a characteristic we should want our children to find in their books. Second, it might well inspire some kids to read who don’t normally read much. However, in my opinion, the negative aspects of this book far outweigh these positive features. Also, if the child you have in mind has a hard time getting motivated to read, there are other creative and fun books that will serve them better, like Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel or even A Friend For Dragon by Dav Pilkey.

In short, I do not recommend The Adventures of Captain Underpants, and I encourage you to avoid this book and others in the Captain Underpants series.