In Honor of Banned Books Week

#1 Challenged Book of 2013

The Adventures of Captain Underpants (Captain Underpants #1)
by Dav Pilkey

Pilkey plays with words and pictures, providing great entertainment. The story is immediately engaging - two fourth-grade boys who write comic books and 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.

(Summary retrieved from goodreads.com)

I’ve read about half of the Captain Underpants series—out loud to a child—and loved them almost as much, if not more, than he did. The illustrations are a great complement to the story, which in itself is downright hilarious. This series is perfect for reluctant readers. It will show them that reading can be fun while still helping them develop the habit of reading sequentially from left to right with very manageable—and did I mention hilarious?!—text.

This book was challenged not because it was “unsuited for age group” but because Pilkey dared to have the two student protagonist challenge authority and because he portrayed school personnel in the way in which he experienced them himself; detached, indifferent, of often unkind. Teachers have one of the most important jobs in the world, they teach our children, but being over-worked, under-paid and under-appreciated has led many to simply not give a damn anymore. Parents, don’t blame the graphic novel, blame the fractured system. Them stop blaming it and do something about it.