- ISBN13: 9780439417846
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Tra-La-Laaaaa! Join George and Harold on FIVE hilarious adventures with the amazing Captain Underpants, as they duel Dr. Diaper, tackle the talking toilets, clash with the crazy cafeteria ladies, plot against Professor Poopypants, and wrestle the wicked Wedgie Woman. Overflowing with humor, action, and that world-famous cheesy animation technique, Flip-O-Rama, this boxed collection will make kids laugh until soda comes out their noses. Have you read your UNDERPA… Buy From AMAZON.COM >>
March 13th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Jon Sudlow
Proffessor Sykes
December 4, 2005
Books Criteria and Reviews
Applications of Select Criteria for Children’s Books
Children’s books represent the broadest spectrum of simple to complex content, more then any other age group. Bear Meets Ball, by Jacquelyn Rose, is well written for its target audience of children aged one to three. Books of this type incorporate minimal but masterly selected text, shallow characters, phenomenal pictures, and simple but effective academic or moral lessons which are appropriate for young children. By contrast, Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey, is a whimsical, multi-chapter tale, of how a young boy saves the world in his underwear. Captain Underpants and other multi-chapter books can be reviewed with the exact opposite criteria of how picture books are judged by. The number of pages should not be a detriment to children’s perception of how difficult the novel will be too read. Multi-chapter books require fully developed characters, in order to give the reader the ability to vividly paint a picture in his or her mind, of what the characters look like. Well written novels should excite our five senses; they need to incorporate vivid detail to make the reader believe the words on the page are actually describing something that could happen in real life. Finally, all masterpieces of literature have us dreading the last page of the story, because the reader is so involved and captivated with the tale, he or she does not want the fantasy to end.
Bear Meets Ball is the quintessential example of what a good children’s picture book should represent. I give the book five out of five stars. The story incorporates minimal text, written so masterfully, that the bear is described exactly how he appears in the pictures. For young children, reading is a big challenge. Using simple words such as “brown, large, hungry, and sad” the bear’s feelings and description represent exactly what the illustrated picture of Bear displays. Pictures are a big part of children’s books. They are used to aid the reader, using the words to complement the picture in every detail. The pictures of the bears size, feelings, and actions skillfully complement the actual words on the page. Adding to the simplistic nature of the book is the easy counting plot line of the story. Notice how Bear is simply called Bear, he does not have an abstract name. This is purposefully done for the children to focus on the interaction of Bear and other objects to center the focus on the counting lesson. Bear is challenged with the task of finding ten balls to juggle in his circus performance. Every time he finds another ball, the counting of the balls is re-iterated. While the end of the story is predictable, after he finds ten balls the story ends, the work is crafted in such a way where the reader falls in love with the Bear, and wishes there were more wonderful pictures and plot line to compliment this masterpiece.
Contrasting the criteria used to judge children’s picture books, the opposite measurement is used for multi-chapter books targeted for children aged 10 to 13. Captain Underpants is a series of comedic tales about a young boys endless quest, to time after time, rid the world of evil in his underwear. I rate the series with three out of five stars. The page length of chapter books should not deter the potential reader from reading the novel. Rather, the story needs to capture the readers attention throughout the entire book. Re-tooling the emphasis off of the number of pages, to the actual content of the story is a strong point to the Captain Underpants series. Through every hilarious chapter, the notion of the Wicked Wedgey King and the underwear cannon makes the reader forget about the overall page number of the book, and turns it into a page flipping comedy about underwear and the numerous ways it is satirically incorporated. The detail in Underpants is sufficient enough to make the reader believe the superhero could actually exist, as it deals with the `average Joe’ saving the day. Multi-chapter books should inspire the imagination by detailing fully developed characters, that allow the reader to imagine the character in his or her own head. This is where Underpants fails. Even though the plot line and characters are very developed, all of the characters are illustrated at the beginning of every chapter. Drawing should be left in picture books, not in full chapter novels. The fact that drawings of all the important characters, events, and the world Captain Underpants lives in are present, seriously limits the potential scope of imagination the reader can have. The reader is limited because he or she doesn’t have to imagine what Underpants, or his supporting casts look like, they are already drawn for the reader. Finally, Underpants’s content is over done. There are a few chapters that exist purely for comedic situations that have nothing to do with the plot line or character development. Also, there is a limit to how many funny things you can do with underwear. Overall, the books are comical and well received by readers, reporting laughing out loud moments, however, the series is dwindling in originality because of the books base. The absurdity is what Captain Underpants relies on. As readers are desensitized to Captain Underpants as they work their way through the series, the absurdity and shock value starts to wear off and the series becomes dull. My suggestion is to read Underpants while the themes, plot lines, and characters are still original and fresh.
Bear Meets Ball, and Captain Underpants both leave the audience anticipating more. Both stories leave the reader reflecting on the cute and crude content of the stories, long after the books have been finished. Bear Meets Ball is a perfect example of a well written children’s picture book, because it incorporate minimal, but selective text, wonderfully illustrated pictures, and a clear plot line involving a counting lesson for young children. Captain Underpants includes well developed characters, in an original and believable world. However, Underpants’s downfall is its inability to stay original and fresh throughout its series. Also, its illustrations degrade the reader’s potential inspiration of creativity. Both books have contrasting criteria to be judged upon, however, both, for the time being, are original and wonderfully illustrated to keep us reflecting on the beauty of an artist rendition of Bear, to the crude, laugh-out-loud comedy of Captain Underpants.
Rating: 3 / 5
March 13th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Do you like funny book you should try “The Captain Undrpants” book is helarous.
Rating: 5 / 5
March 14th, 2010 at 1:39 am
My son was so excited to get the 1st set of books and they came in good time. The problem was that they sent us 2 of the same books in the set and when I sent them an e-mail they did not respond – I would not order something else from this company
Rating: 2 / 5
March 14th, 2010 at 1:47 am
I must admit, this collection offers the most enthralling stories about underwear I’ve yet come across. Highly recommended!
Rating: 5 / 5
March 14th, 2010 at 3:55 am
If you’re thinking of getting these for your kindergarten, 1st or 2nd grade children I would suggest you pass on these books.
In the captian underpants books are “comic books” drawn and written by two of the characters in the story. Pilkey, trying to be cute, has the kids constantly misspelling words in their comic books. My son, just learning to read and who loves these books, has a hard time understanding why someone would purposely misspell words. A number of times while practicing for spelling tests he has had words on his list that have been in the books and has asked if it’s okay to spell his words the same way they do in the captain underpants books.
It’s nice that Pilkey can create a lucrative business based on potty humor and his inability to draw above a 3rd grade level but for those children learning how to read and write these books can be detrimental.
Rating: 2 / 5