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parallax 's review for:
The Adventures of Captain Underpants
by Dav Pilkey
After pranksters George and Harold get themselves in a little too much trouble, they are saddled with performing unsavory chores for their harsh principal. The two boys come up with a hypnotism-based scheme to finally end their torture and in doing so, turn the principal into Captain Underpants, a character they made up for a comic book. Captain Underpants runs around the city trying to thwart wrongdoers and surprisingly does a pretty good job, considering he doesn't actually have any super powers.
The best part about this book is the wealth of amusing illustrations and the spectacular flip-o-rama. The rest of it - the plot, the characters, and the writing itself - is pretty dismal. I was dismayed by the number of misspellings and grammatical errors made in the name of "staying true" to the characters and bored and somewhat irritated by the story itself. Harold and George are unlikeable to an adult but probably relatable to the audience this book is aimed at.
Overall, I don't think the book has much value as anything outside of a frivolous read. That said, frivolous books are important and getting reluctant readers dedicated to a series is a great success. I see the place this book has in libraries, I just don't like it much myself.
The best part about this book is the wealth of amusing illustrations and the spectacular flip-o-rama. The rest of it - the plot, the characters, and the writing itself - is pretty dismal. I was dismayed by the number of misspellings and grammatical errors made in the name of "staying true" to the characters and bored and somewhat irritated by the story itself. Harold and George are unlikeable to an adult but probably relatable to the audience this book is aimed at.
Overall, I don't think the book has much value as anything outside of a frivolous read. That said, frivolous books are important and getting reluctant readers dedicated to a series is a great success. I see the place this book has in libraries, I just don't like it much myself.