The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby (Captain Underpants) - Hardcover

Pilkey, Dav

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 043937605X ISBN 13: 9780439376051

Publisher: The Blue Sky Press, 2002

Synopsis

Oh, no! It's not enough that George and Harold have invented Captain Underpants, the greatest superhero of all time, and that they've also saved the world FIVE times! They defeated Dr. Diaper! They punished Professor Poopypants! And they whacked the wicked Wedgie Woman! What task could be worse?!!?
This one: As punishment, the boys have to write a 100-page report on "good citizenship," and they have been specifically ordered NOT to write another comic about Captain Underpants. So what do they do?
Aha! Meet Super Diaper Baby--the most powerful peewee to pack a punch. With Pilkey's typical over-the-edge humor, Super Diaper Baby will have kids laughing until soda comes out their noses.

About this title

Review:

Move over, Captain Underpants! There's a tiny new superhero in town. Undaunted by Principal Krupp's insistence that their essay assignment on good citizenship not be another comic book about the briefs-clad warrior, fourth graders George and Harold decide to invent a new superhero. Super Diaper Baby is born! It's up to our fearless infant hero to save the planet from diabolical Deputy Doo-Doo and his reluctantly evil pooch, Danger Dog ("I'm not really evil. I'm just in it for the kibbles."). Several robotic battles, intergalactic digressions, and "flip-o-ramas" later, Super Diaper Baby has done his duty, and George and Harold are in trouble yet again with their principal. Still, it was worth it, as any fan of Dav Pilkey's lowbrow, scatologically inclined "epic novels" (The Adventures of Captain Underpants, Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman, etc.) will attest. George and Harold's spelling is atrocious, their humor is straight off the grade school playground, and kids love every page of it. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

From the Author:

Notes (from Pilkey.com)

As everybody already knows, this book was really written by George and Harold's alter ego, Dav Pilkey.
"I know this is going to sound like I'm totally insane, but George and Harold are very real characters to me. I guess it's because I based both of them on myself when I was a kid. So when I started working on this book, I needed to "become" George and Harold. In my imagination, I stopped being me, and sort of let George and Harold take over. I let them create the story they wanted, without worrying about spelling, or grammar, or moralistic plots which would please adults." -- Dav Pilkey

Dav was also inspired by the home-made comic books he receives from kids every day.
"The comics that kids send me often have poor grammar and misspelled words, and usually have bad guys who are disgusting in one way or another. But the amazing thing is that these comics are all made voluntarily. Nobody forces these kids to make comic books. They just do it for fun. And there's always something wonderful about that kind of unprompted creativity. I really tried to capture some of that energy in this book" -Dav Pilkey



Fun Facts:

1. The lines that Billy's parents shout on page 66 ("Billy, don't be a hero!" "Don't be a fool with your life!") is the chorus to a song that was popular when Dav Pilkey was a kid. The song is called "Billy, Don't be a Hero" by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods.
 
2. George and Harold were interviewed by "Disney Adventures" Magazine right after "The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby" was published. Click here to read their interview.
 
3. One morning when Dav was painting the illustrations in this book, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook the Pacific Northwest. His whole house rocked back and forth for almost 30 seconds. Lots of stuff got broken, but remarkably, his paint didn't spill.

4. "The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby" was challenged (and almost banned) from a school library in the spring of 2003.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Blue Sky Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 043937605X
• ISBN 13: 9780439376051
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128
• Illustrator: Pilkey Dav