The Adventures of Captain Underpants [Paperback]

Note: This review is for Five book boxed collection of Captain Underpants - which seems to be out of print at the moment (it is still available on eBay though if it's not on offer from Amazon resellers). Plus there's a newer Ten book Capt Underpants set that includes these first five books. Amazon appear to have crosslisted this review to single books from the boxed collection.

Review: When we had run out of the excellent 'Astrosaurs' books to read, I bought this paperback book set for my son (9) who is a poor reader. I read him a few pages when in the bath or at bedtime, and we are really enjoying the stories. They are very American (the headmaster is a Principal) but any kid used to the better US Sitcoms like 'Jimmy Neutron', ' Neds survival guide' or 'Phil of the future' wouldn't even need the odd translation. The books are an easy read and are very witty (I think my son gets all of the jokes). The stories revolve around the two main rather naughty boy characters invented comic book hero 'Captain Underpants' and the odd occasions where their imagination merges with reality. Although George and Harold aren't the best behaved young men, they do redeem themselves by saving the world on numerous occasions. The stories aren't anywhere near as puerile as the titles suggest, although they are accurate descriptions of the key plot elements.

This boxed collection contains the first five Capt Underpants books: The adventures of Capt Underpants, The attack of the killer toilets, The invasion of the incredibly naughty cafeteria ladies from outer space, The perilous plot of Professor Poopypants, and The wrath of the wicked wedgie woman. They are great stories for preteen boys, probably from around 5 upwards if you read them to them. To make sense they should be read in order. The books have lots of clever comic style drawings as well. The only minor downside is the odd spelling for those practising their reading, as it's US American with preteen schoolboy phonetic in the 'comics'. There are surprisingly few good books aimed squarely at young boys about, so highly recommended. If you can't find this boxed set cheaply via Amazon resellers try eBay, . Also look out for 'The tentacled terror', 'Horrid Henry', 'Seriously silly stories' and the 'Astrosaurs'/'Cows in action' series of books that are very boy friendly.

My 9 year old son was a very reluctant reader, it was painful trying to encouage him. Until his teacher introduced him to these books. Within a couple of days I was being begged to buy him the set. He has since gone on to read loads of goosebumps and other similar books - he rarely has his nose out of one. The secret is a mixture of toilet humour, vivid cartoon style text and a sending up of school staff. The only problem is the us spellings but the advantages outweigh this.

His problem is when are they going to produce more?

Certainly made me laugh reading them to my two boys (6 & 9). The eldest reads them all the time. My personal favourite is the professor poopypants name changer, same vein as horrid henry but boys everything is much sillier!