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 Fans of the Captain Underpants series will have tons o' fun with this activity book which includes puzzles, games, pranks, cheesy jokes, drawing tips, trivia, stickers, and more! They can also create their own comic strips, utilizing the world-famous cheesy-animation technology, Flip-O-Rama! Best of all, there's a brand-new 33-page comic called "Hairy Potty and the Underwear of Justice," featuring everybody's favorite waistband warrior, Captain Underpants! |
 | "Soon after Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants came out, the good people at Scholastic asked me to make another book. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough energy to create a new "epic novel", so I suggested an "activity book".
We were on a very tight deadline, and there was not enough time for me to make a dummy for the book. So nobody at Scholastic knew what they were going to be publishing until they saw the finished art. Apparently, they figured they could trust me. Tee-hee!
The day before my deadline, I mailed in all the art for the book, which included a 33-page comic book called "Hairy Potty and the Underwear of Justice".
Well, let me tell you, the folks at Scholastic were delighted--- especially the lawyers at Scholastic, who were overjoyed that I was poking fun at Scholastic's biggest series of books ever. Boy, were they happy about that!
Actually, they weren't very happy about my comic book, and asked me to make significant changes to it.
I said, "no".
Then they insisted.
I said "no".
Then they demanded!
I said "no".
Finally, they said, "if you don't make these changes, we won't publish your book!"
I said "fine by me". Then I wished them all a happy "banned book week", and unplugged my phone for a month.
This is an example of the fine art of "bluffing". And you know what? It worked!
The comic book came out exactly the way I wrote it. Hooray!!! Long live Free Speech!" — Dav Pilkey |
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 1. Even though Dav has occasionally butted heads with a few people at Scholastic, they're all still great friends. Scholastic rules!
2. You can celebrate free speech by reading a banned book! Ask your parents to help you pick out something juicy! Read it together... talk about it... it's fun! Find out more by visiting this website: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/.
3. Looking for some great banned books? I recommend The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, and The Stupids (the series) by Harry Allard and James Marshall. Aah, the classics!
4. In 2002, the sixth most challenged book (according to the American Library Association) was: "Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey, for insensitivity and being unsuited to age group, as well as encouraging children to disobey authority". Now come on... that doesn't sound like me, does it?
5. Although the title clearly says "Extra-Crunchy", this book actually does not stay very crisp in milk.
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