By Nina Schuyler, The Children’s Book Review
Published: April 5, 2012
Photo credit: Jasmic
In his essay, “Hypocritical Theory,” in Manhood for Amateurs, Michael Chabon opens with the provocative, “I hate Captain Underpants.” Yes, Chabon agrees the popular series written by Dav Pilkey is “lively, well crafted and snappily designed,” and if he was a kid, he’d probably love the books, too. Really, how could he not enjoy the two potty-minded fourth grade boys who invent Super Diaper Baby? What he hates is that the series has co-opted the gross humor that kids use, typically out of earshot of adults. “The original spirit of mockery has been completely inverted; it is now the adult world that mocks children, implicitly and profitably, speaking its old language, invoking its bygone secret pleasures,” writes Chabon.
If Chabon has trouble with Captain Underpants, he’s probably having a big hissy fit over the scores of books that have followed suit. Writers and publishers have taken note that humor is the way to a kid’s (especially a boy’s) reading heart. Just this morning, as I drove the carpool of third-grade boys to school, one boy was holding court by reading from The Encyclopedia of Immaturity (full of silly tricks and pranks—how to make noises with different body parts; how to really annoy your older sibling; and the all-important, how to hang a spoon off your nose).
Since the genie has been let out of the bottle, and since April is National Humor Month, I’ve put together a list of some recently published books that will keep your kid laughing (and reading).
Stone Rabbit #7: Dragon Boogie
By Erik Craddock
Erik Craddock is out with #7 in his Stone Rabbit graphic novel series, with its central character a zany, quick-witted rabbit. In #7 Dragon Boogie, when the electricity goes out, Stone Rabbit and his buddies have to play a boring board game, Dragon & Stuff. They unknowingly roll a pair of magical die, and poof! they are transported to the world of the game itself, with wizards and knights, and a dragon with a “bad case of stink breath” who takes offense at being called fat. Eventually they confront the Lord of Darkness, and the fight is on, with one of their weapons being, of course, a “mighty fart.” (Ages 7-10. Publisher: Random House Children’s Books)
Lunch Lady #7: Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes
By Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Jarrett J. Krosoczka is back with
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