The Adventures of Captain Underpants

The Adventures of Captain Underpants is, as the subtitle suggests, the first of many epic novels by Dav Pilkey. Captain Underpants follows the adventures of George and Harold, two good-natured but troublemaking boys who annoy their crabby principal Mr. Krupp with their silly antics. While Mr. Krupp is certainly right to be angry at the two boys, he takes their punishment a bit far, blackmailing them into doing menial chores so he doesn't expel them. As a result, George and Harold order a 3D hypno ring and use it to hypnotize their teacher into canceling their punishment. Unfortunately, the boys take things a bit too far. Deciding to have a little fun, they hypnotize Mr. Krupp into thinking he's a wacky underwear-clad superhero. Things quickly spiral out of control as Mr. Krupp--now aptly-called Captain Underpants--heads off to fight crime. Thus, the wacky adventures of Captain Underpants begin!

Many book series get off to a rough start, but Captain Underpants hit the ground running. The humor and quirky and enjoyable. Needless to say, the humor can be quite juvenile at times--something parents may want to skim through before letting their child read--but enjoyable for people of all ages. I'm twenty years old, and I get a kick out of some of the clever, random humor Mr. Pilkey comes up with. The illustrations, while simple, are very effective in portraying the characters and action.

Captain Underpants certainly isn't a book series for everyone, but if your kids, or even you are, a fan of gross-out or quirky humor, this book is the place to start.