|
|
|
|
 Meet George and Harold, a couple of wise guys. The only thing they enjoy more than playing practical jokes is creating their own comic books. And together they have created the greatest comic-book superhero in the history of their elementary school - CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!
But George and Harold's principal, mean old Mr. Krupp, doesn't like their pranks or their comic books. And he's cooked up a plan to catch George and Harold and stop their shenanigans - once and for all! This book is about what happened when that plan backfired, and Captain Underpants leaped off the page to save the day!
|
 This book is based on a super hero that Dav Pilkey invented way back in 1973 when he was a second grader. The comics that Dav made were very much like the comic book that George and Harold sell on the playground in Chapter 3.
| "When I began making children's books in 1986, my goal was to one day make a book about Captain Underpants. I wrote several different versions of this story, including a 48 page comic book, but every publisher who saw it turned it down. When the book was finally accepted in 1995, it was a real dream come true!" — Dav Pilkey |
Many of the things in the book are taken directly from Dav's childhood: the practical jokes, the comics, even the cheesy animation technique called "Flip-O-Rama" (Dav and his friends used to amuse themselves by making these flip-action animated pictures in elementary school).
Dav Pilkey had reading disabilities when he was a kid. He was always discouraged by wordy texts, small type, and lengthy chapters.
| "My goal with The Adventures of Captain Underpants was to invent a style which was almost identical to that of a picturebook --- in a novel format. So I wrote incredibly short chapters and tried to fill each page with more pictures than words. I wanted to create a book that kids who don't like to read would want to read." — Dav Pilkey |
|
 1. George and Harold got their names from children's book characters that Dav Pilkey liked as a kid: "Georgie the Ghost", and "Harold and the Purple Crayon". Their last names (Beard and Hutchins) were the last names of Dav's two favorite "Little Rascals" characters: "Stimey (Matthew Beard)" and "Wheezer (Bobby Hutchins)".
2. George and Harold's school, Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, got it's name from "Curly" of "The Three Stooges". Curly's given name was Jerome Horwitz.
3. If you look at the box on page 45, you'll note that George and Harold live in Piqua, Ohio. I chose Piqua because they have an "Underwear Festival" there every year. It seemed like the perfect place!
|
|
|
