Module 15: Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants : the Fourth Epic Novel By Dav Pilkey

Summary

Captain Underpants and the perilous plot of Professor Poopypants is a an adventurous tale that has Captain Underpants saving the day. Professor Poopypants is tired of the students making fun of his name, so he decides to devise a "perilous plot" to teach the students at Jerome Horowitz Elementary School a lesson. He commands that everyone's name be changed to a silly name, and that's when the humor really takes off.

Bibliographic Citation

Pilkey, Dav (2000). Captain Underpants and the perilous plot of Professor Poopypants : the fourth epic novel . New York : Blue Sky Press.

Impressions

I continuously laughed while I was reading this story. I can understand parents' concerns about young readers choosing the books in this series to read, however, the stories are told with harmless fun and humor. This one is definitely an icebreaker if you are trying to get a child to smile. I read this one to my nephew after he had a bad day at school, and it really made him laugh.

Reviews

You knew he’d be back. Yes, Captain Underpants, aka Mr. Krupp, principal of the Jerome Horowitz Elementary School, has returned, as have his enablers, students George and Harold. The plot? Suffice it to say Underpants must combat a scientific genius named Professor Pippy P. Poopypants. Poopypants goes mad when the students at Horwitz laugh at his name. (When they find out his middle name is Pee-pee, they get downright hysterical, as will readers, no doubt.) Mixed in with the minimal story is Pilkey’s comic book–style artwork; some of the pages even make a “cheesy” flip book to animate the action. Silly, gross-out fun for Captain’s legion of fans. (Reviewed February 15, 2000)— Ilene Cooper
Reviewed February 15, 2000-Booklist

In the fourth "epic novel" by the wildly popular Dav Pilkey, young troublemakers George and Harold are back with Mr. Krupp, the Jerome Horowitz Elementary principal they previously transformed into the superhero Captain Underpants with their 3-D hypno ring. This comic adventure begins in New Swissland, where everyone has a silly name. ("Just ask their president, the Honorable Chuckles Jingleberry McMonkeyburger Jr. or his lovely wife, Stinky.") New Swissland, just southeast of Greenland, is the home of the inventor of the Shrinky-Pig 2000 and the Goosy-Grow 4000--Professor Pippy P. Poopypants. When the professor decides to pitch his inventions in the United States, he is laughed out of every institution of higher learning because of his unusual name. Frustrated, he decides to become an elementary school science teacher where the innocent children will, he assumes, be accepting and loving.

This is where his world collides with George and Harold's, who are not accepting of his funny name, but instead explode with laughter and promptly craft a new comic book called "Captain Underpants and the Pied Pooper of Piqua." This hilarious book will crack Pilkey fans up with tiny toilets of truth, evil gerbils, and even Cher's greatest hits. (The children--not notoriously good spellers--note: "All animal cruelty was simulated. No actual girbles were forced to listen to Cher.") And what becomes of Professor Poopypants? He gets even, devising a method to convert all names into silly names. He creates a chart in which everyone has to use letters from their own first and last names to create a madcap moniker. In the end, George and Harold learn that it's not nice to make fun of people: "'Wow,' said Harold. 'I think this is the first time one of our stories ever had a moral!' 'Probably the last time, too,' said George. 'Let's hope so,' said Harold." --Flunky Pizza Chunks (Ages 8 to 12)-Amazon.com Editorial Review

Library Settings

This would be a great book to use in a display for Banned Books Week. It also would be a good book to use in a book talk program about censored books.