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Definitely some things I didn’t really approve (“goof house” being the main issue) probably won’t read another one to my kid but I wouldn’t say overall that the book was awful.
Maybe you'll think it's a character flaw, but I love this series!
There is enough humor to last a lifetime in these books. Case in point: from the Turbo Toilet that comes back from the gassy surface of Uranus, to the teachers in their underwear, to the description of diet soda ("fizzy brown phosphoric acid"), to the names of the cross-bred hamsterdactyls: Dawn, Orlando and Tony. There's a Flip-O-Rama drawn by "a four year-old guest artist," which will prove to readers of all ages that they have enough drawing skill to make their own Flip-O-Ramas. There's a nod to the requisite disapproving grandmother and to the ridiculousness of standardized tests.
Even with just 5 days of school left, I predict that no less than half my class will have this book read by the time we reach the finish line!
There is enough humor to last a lifetime in these books. Case in point: from the Turbo Toilet that comes back from the gassy surface of Uranus, to the teachers in their underwear, to the description of diet soda ("fizzy brown phosphoric acid"), to the names of the cross-bred hamsterdactyls: Dawn, Orlando and Tony. There's a Flip-O-Rama drawn by "a four year-old guest artist," which will prove to readers of all ages that they have enough drawing skill to make their own Flip-O-Ramas. There's a nod to the requisite disapproving grandmother and to the ridiculousness of standardized tests.
Even with just 5 days of school left, I predict that no less than half my class will have this book read by the time we reach the finish line!
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Reviewed first at Brunner's Bookshelf
I'm always digging through Net Galley to find comics and books that I really want to read in hopes of being selected for a review. I also enjoy looking through what is available from Scholastic. Now that I am only working one amazing job I am home in the evenings and can read to my kids again. I love looking for books that I think my son will like. I have seen these books for years and always thought it might be worth reading. Now that my son is almost 5 I figured now would be a good time to start. Scholastic and NetGalley were kind enough to allow me to read this to my son and review it here.
Now I don't recommend starting here in the series. There is a lot that happens before this that kind of leaves gaps in the story, but for the most part there was plenty of explanation as to who everyone is and how things got going. This book is one solid story, but the way it is told it almost feels like two stories in one. At the very beginning everything happens so quickly, then things shift and it is like staring the book all over again with a new story. It all ties together in the end.
I liked this and so did my son. There is a lot of toilet humor (I know, Shocking right) which is exactly what a 4 year old boy loves. There is quite the vocabulary in these books and I don't mean the potty talk, but they actually have some adult words through out the book to help teach kids a bigger vocabulary. The one problem I had with this book was the comic flip book scenes. Really that is more my fault and I can't complain about it really. If you have the paper back version then there are sections that play out like a flip book. Having it as a digital ebook you are not able to do that.
The little action scenes in this book are funny and some of the word play is clever. My son doesn't quite understand it but it gives the adults who read these to there children a little laugh. Even my wife who wasn't really listening as I read this would laugh from time to time.
This was a cute book and we both had some fun reading it. My son is already asking when we can read more Captain Underpants. My wife told me that while I was at work he came running out of his room in his own underpants with a shirt around his neck like a cap shouting I am captain underpants. Wish I could have been home to see that. I give this a 4 out of 5 stars.
I'm always digging through Net Galley to find comics and books that I really want to read in hopes of being selected for a review. I also enjoy looking through what is available from Scholastic. Now that I am only working one amazing job I am home in the evenings and can read to my kids again. I love looking for books that I think my son will like. I have seen these books for years and always thought it might be worth reading. Now that my son is almost 5 I figured now would be a good time to start. Scholastic and NetGalley were kind enough to allow me to read this to my son and review it here.
Now I don't recommend starting here in the series. There is a lot that happens before this that kind of leaves gaps in the story, but for the most part there was plenty of explanation as to who everyone is and how things got going. This book is one solid story, but the way it is told it almost feels like two stories in one. At the very beginning everything happens so quickly, then things shift and it is like staring the book all over again with a new story. It all ties together in the end.
I liked this and so did my son. There is a lot of toilet humor (I know, Shocking right) which is exactly what a 4 year old boy loves. There is quite the vocabulary in these books and I don't mean the potty talk, but they actually have some adult words through out the book to help teach kids a bigger vocabulary. The one problem I had with this book was the comic flip book scenes. Really that is more my fault and I can't complain about it really. If you have the paper back version then there are sections that play out like a flip book. Having it as a digital ebook you are not able to do that.
The little action scenes in this book are funny and some of the word play is clever. My son doesn't quite understand it but it gives the adults who read these to there children a little laugh. Even my wife who wasn't really listening as I read this would laugh from time to time.
This was a cute book and we both had some fun reading it. My son is already asking when we can read more Captain Underpants. My wife told me that while I was at work he came running out of his room in his own underpants with a shirt around his neck like a cap shouting I am captain underpants. Wish I could have been home to see that. I give this a 4 out of 5 stars.
Dav Pilkey's humor in his Captain Underpants books has always been about subverting the rules. From the title on down, he's mined the immense amusement in mentioning unmentionables and shared the mischievous joy of getting away with those things we ought not to do. And, while the potty humor is certainly an essential element, the books have never rested solely on it, as Pilkey's genius has been in extending that spirit to the flaunting of all convention in general. Just as central, for instance, has been the undermining of adults undeserving of their authority because they only use it to bully. He allows his young, still-learning characters to write with authentically poor spelling and grammar, and he laughs at the idea of stories needing internal logic and consistency.
In this book, more than ever, Pilkey has fun subverting the rules of storytelling itself with an unending stream of self-aware meta-references.
Chapter 2, for instance, opens with: Somewhere in the deepest, darkest reaches of our solar system, a red, rubber kickball was zooming through space. None of Earth's scientists could explain where it had come from, or why it was racing toward Uranus, but it had been on its present course for the past five and a half books, and nothing could stop it. The chapter closes with: The only thing left to do was travel the long journey from Uranus to Earth. It was a voyage that would take him nearly three whole pages. The duration of space travel is not measured in time in this universe, but in storytelling convenience.
Smaller, simple turns of phrase show the same sensibility. On one page Pilkey sympathetically refers to the surface of the icy, ridiculously named planet, then a mere two pages later reverses course and takes advantage of it with: that bleak night on the terribly gassy surface of Uranus. When characters are worried about time-travel overlap issues, he solves it with: and before you could say "convoluted plotline," it disappeared into the noontime haze.
Chapter 6 is titled, "Sanitized for Your Protection." It begins: Unfortunately, the epic fight that followed was WAY too violent and disturbing to appear in a children's book. The images and descriptions would just be too terrifying. You'd have nightmares for weeks, trust me. So I have invited a guest illustrator, Timmy Swanson (age four) to draw the action in a style that won't depict too much graphic detail. I've also asked his nana, Gertrude (age seventy-one), to describe the scene in her own, gentle vocabulary.
Chapter 22 is the full, complete comic book that George and Harold write/draw to sell as a money making scheme.
And, just to make sure readers don't take too seriously the rule that this series is about the ridiculous adventures of two slackers, a key central portion of this book is concerned with George and Harold's efforts to study hard and make it to school on time to pass tests so that they don't flunk third grade. (But don't worry, that section devolves into the school's teachers running around the school in their underthings.)
In Dav Pilkey's stories, the only true rule is that stories must be fun.
In this book, more than ever, Pilkey has fun subverting the rules of storytelling itself with an unending stream of self-aware meta-references.
Chapter 2, for instance, opens with: Somewhere in the deepest, darkest reaches of our solar system, a red, rubber kickball was zooming through space. None of Earth's scientists could explain where it had come from, or why it was racing toward Uranus, but it had been on its present course for the past five and a half books, and nothing could stop it. The chapter closes with: The only thing left to do was travel the long journey from Uranus to Earth. It was a voyage that would take him nearly three whole pages. The duration of space travel is not measured in time in this universe, but in storytelling convenience.
Smaller, simple turns of phrase show the same sensibility. On one page Pilkey sympathetically refers to the surface of the icy, ridiculously named planet, then a mere two pages later reverses course and takes advantage of it with: that bleak night on the terribly gassy surface of Uranus. When characters are worried about time-travel overlap issues, he solves it with: and before you could say "convoluted plotline," it disappeared into the noontime haze.
Chapter 6 is titled, "Sanitized for Your Protection." It begins: Unfortunately, the epic fight that followed was WAY too violent and disturbing to appear in a children's book. The images and descriptions would just be too terrifying. You'd have nightmares for weeks, trust me. So I have invited a guest illustrator, Timmy Swanson (age four) to draw the action in a style that won't depict too much graphic detail. I've also asked his nana, Gertrude (age seventy-one), to describe the scene in her own, gentle vocabulary.
Chapter 22 is the full, complete comic book that George and Harold write/draw to sell as a money making scheme.
And, just to make sure readers don't take too seriously the rule that this series is about the ridiculous adventures of two slackers, a key central portion of this book is concerned with George and Harold's efforts to study hard and make it to school on time to pass tests so that they don't flunk third grade. (But don't worry, that section devolves into the school's teachers running around the school in their underthings.)
In Dav Pilkey's stories, the only true rule is that stories must be fun.
"Are you still trying to figure out how we ended up with three half-pterodactyl, half-bionic-hamster pets?" asked George.
"Yeah, sort of," Harold replied.
"You're thinking too much," said George. "Listen, if you look too closely at these stories, they're gonna fall apart completely. Whaddya think this is, Shakespeare?!!?"
"I guess you're right," said Harold.
"Of course I'm right," said George. "Just go with it, man."
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
why did they end it
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is my first introduction to the Captain Underpants series. I am always looking for new books that my nephews can read. Well this book is book and I am sure other books in this series would be fine but there were a few issues I had with this book that make me glad I checked it out first. Some of the jokes luckily are above my nephews heads at this moment so they won't get it. Then there was the part where the teachers thought they were dreaming so they stripped down to their underwear. I don't really need my nephews seeing women in their bras and underwear. I know they will see it soon enough but for now I want them to see be boys and just enjoy reading. I can picture them asking me questions about things in this book. Although on the flip side I liked the illustrations. Plus it was kind of like there were several mini stories all rolled into one big story. Another thing is that I was hoping to laugh my butt off reading this book and this did not happen. Yet, I did like this book and would check out more in this series.
