Captain Underpants Is Everywhere

The August 31 issue of Entertainment Weekly carries an article called A Briefs and Candid Chat With Captain Underpants Creator Dav Pilkey. It appears to be an edited version of

'Captain Underpants' returns: Creator and potty humor maestro Dav Pilkey gives us the scoop, which appears at its website.

The Entertainment Weekly articles are okay, but pretty much generic author interviews. For a real assessment of the series (a new volume came out the end of August) see One Nation, Underpants  at Slate. It's not unusual for critics to talk about this or that children's book as being subversive. Jessica Roake, this essay's author, makes an excellent argument that the Captain Underpants books truly does buck the traditional children's literature world that "is brimming with poignant, metaphor-heavy, gracefully rendered portraits of childhood that English teachers just cherish." Unfortunately what many adults appreciate in a children's book is not what children appreciate in a children's book. Be sure to read the comments to this article. At the time I read them, most were a touching tribute to the Captain.

 My  response to the only Captain Underpants  book I've read came early in Original Content's existence.