Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Yahoo!
My Yahoo!
Mail
More Yahoo! Services
Account Options
New User? Sign Up
Sign In
Help
Yahoo! Search
web search
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Asia Pacific
World
Captain Underpants' creator returns with more poopypants
Reuters - Wednesday, August 11
Send
IM Story
Print
By Belinda Goldsmith
CANBERRA - As a superhero Captain Underpants may lack muscles but he's proven to have the power to get children reading with his creator, Dav Pilkey, hoping four new books with the same potty humor will nab more young readers.
Pilkey, 44, an author and artist based near Seattle, said he came up with the idea of Captain Underpants while at school where he was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and spent long periods in the hallway on his own, drawing and making up stories.
Since winning a writing contest at age 19 he has been penning children's books full of poopypants and wedgie jokes with Captain Underpants flying from the presses in 1997. Since then 45 million copies have been published in 19 languages.
After a few years away from writing to care for his terminally ill father, Pilkey signed a deal in March this year with Scholastic for four new books with the first released this week with a worldwide printing of 1 million copies.
This is a graphic novel called "The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Caveman from the Future" supposedly written by fourth-graders George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the pair who turned their school's principal into Captain Underpants.
Pilkey said his new book keeps the gross-out humor which has led to his genre of writing being dubbed "poop fiction."
"The potty humor exists in my books because that's the kind of thing I loved when I was a kid," the publicity-shy Pilkey told Reuters in an email.
Pilkey, who also created Super Diaper Baby, Ricky Ricotta and the Dumb Bunnies, said the next three books in his contract wouldn't be centered on Ook and Gluk but he declined to say exactly what they would be about.
He has not yet given up on Captain Underpants though and is planning at least four more "epic novels" about the superhero.
"It may take decades before all of them are published," said Pilkey. "In the meantime, I've got dozens of books planned that are firmly rooted in the "Captain Underpants Universe." Many of them will be graphic novels."
POTTY HUMOR CANNED BY SOME
Pilkey has been praised by some for using potty humor and bodily function jokes to get young boys reading and close the gender gap with girls who tend to be far ahead.
But he is not universally loved. In 2002 the American Library Association ranked the Captain Underpants books among those most frequently complained about by parents and educators.
The author, however, said he rarely received complaints, with most parents and teachers writing to thank him.
He said the aim of his writing was to get children to read.
"I had a lot of reading problems when I was a kid. I still remember feeling dumb because I couldn't read very well, and I'll never forget the torture of having to look through hundreds of library books trying to find ONE that seemed interesting," he said.
Pilkey said he tailor-made his books to suit all of his childhood requirements.
This meant they had to be funny, have robots and/or monsters in them, have lots of illustration, short chapters, and be at least 100 pages long so they qualify for book reports.
And the childish spelling errors?
"The occasional "phonetic spelling" is there for a reason, too ... I want to show kids that they can be creative without having to worry about being perfect," said Pilkey.
"So far I feel like my plan is working. Each year I get hundreds of original comics and stories sent to me by kids ... most of them have misspellings and mistakes. But these kids did this stuff on their own. These stories weren't homework assignments --- they were made for fun."
Recommend
Send
IM Story
Print
Related Articles
US-ENTERTAINMENT Summary Reuters - 57 minutes ago
Elvis' granddaughter eyes "Mad Max" role Reuters - 57 minutes ago
Britney Spears to have cameo in "Glee" Reuters - 1 hour 14 minutes ago
'Spider-Man' musical set to open on Broadway Reuters - 2 hours 2 minutes ago
Over-40 actresses dominate September magazine covers Reuters - Wednesday, August 11
News Search
Top Stories
Chelsea agree Carvalho fee with Real
A long, hot Ramadan for many devout Muslims
BP spill cases to be heard in New Orleans
US Fed promises stimulus to help slowing recovery
InterContinental Hotels to create 160,000 jobs worldwide
More Top Stories »
ADVERTISEMENT
Most Popular
Most Viewed
Most Recommended
Sauna contest in Finland cut short as Russian dies
Massive ice island breaks off Greenland glacier
Visitors attack Taiwan 'haunted house' actors
BP spends $6.1 bln on Gulf spill response
Extreme weather fuels debate over global warming
More Most Viewed »
Argentine students crack three-decade-old murder mystery
40 US billionaires pledge half wealth to charity
World's first full face transplant man appears on TV
Calcium supplements linked to heart attacks: study
Massive ice island breaks off Greenland glacier
More Most Recommended »
Elsewhere on Yahoo!
Financial news on Yahoo! Finance
Stars and latest movies
Best travel destinations
More on Yahoo! News
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Subscribe to our news feeds
Top StoriesMy Yahoo!RSS
» More news feeds | What are news feeds?
Also on Yahoo
Answers
Groups
Mail
Messenger
Mobile
Travel
Finance
Movies
Sports
Games
» All Yahoo! Services
Site Highlights
Singapore
Full Coverage
Most Popular
Asia Entertainment
Photos
World Cup 2010