Super Diaper Baby 2 (The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers) by Dav Pilkey
Review by Chris Singer
About the author:
Dav Pilkey has written and illustrated several popular award-winning books for children. The Adventures of Captain Underpants, which has nearly one million copies in print, was an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists and a Publishers Weekly “Cuffie” Award winner for the Funniest Book of the Year; Dog Breath was awarded the California Young Reader Medal; The Paperboy was chosen as a Caldecott Honor Book. Mr. Pilkey also illustrated the IRA-CBC Children’s Choice Award-winning Dumb Bunnies books.
About the book:
George and Harold (the co-stars of the enormously popular Captain Underpants series) are in big trouble again! Their mean principal, Mr. Krupp, has had it with their comic books. But the boys aren’t giving up, and they decide to create an all-new epic novel about a subject they’ve never tackled before!
Dr. Dilbert Dinkle started his career as an ordinary, everyday evil genius/inventor/bank robber. But when he awakens one day transformed into a walking, talking puddle of pee, he vows to destroy every toilet in town. Will the devious Dr. Dinkle and his conniving cat, Petey, ruin restrooms for the rest of us? Or could this be a job for the death-defying, dynamic duo of Super Diaper Baby and Diaper Dog?
Watch the trailer:
My take on the book:
If you are familiar with Dav Pilkey, you already know his books are huge hits with young readers, especially reluctant readers. In this 2nd book in the Super Diaper Series, fans will once again be treated to lots of laughs and silliness. I love Pilkey’s artwork and the Flip-O-Rama’s cracked me up as well. I have no doubt kids will love this book and will be asking for more!
Still, I can’t help being torn. Torn because I feel a bit like a stuffy old snobby elitist as I’m thinking about this, but I just can’t get over the intenshinal spelling and grammatical errors. Maybe it’s the former English teacher in me or just the Scrabble player in me, but damn I can’t get over it. I’d personally have a hard time sharing this book with my daughter because of it. If that makes me a prude or a square, so be it.
However, I also understand that for some kids, reading doesn’t come
Did you see the news where one of these books was BANNED? Because it said the words . . . get ready . . . poo poo head. Shocking! (In Texas, saw it on msnbc.)
What the heck is wrong with people?
Melissa
This is book is NOT for RELUCTANT READERS!! Dav Pilkey wrote this book to inspire CREATIVITY in kids. He has raised the bar for society. The bad guys do the name calling and get punished. The good guys value their family and friendships. Pilkey does this in such a subtle way that the average person seems to miss the point and assume it is just about potty humor. If you get a chance, you should see Sir Ken Robinson’s video on You Tube about education and creativity. Sir Ken Robinson is part of TED. Also, Pilkey has a touching video called, “Super Diaper Baby 2: Behind the Blankies”. It explains why he writes this book with misspellings, etc.
Pilkey’s books are widely known as being aimed at reluctant readers. And why would you say it’s not? I didn’t even mention the potty humor because I did get it thank you very much. I think I explained also why I don’t like the misspellings. It’s my opinion, okay. Thanks for reading though and commenting.
This book is NOT for RELUCTANT READERS. Dav Pilkey said he wrote this book to inspire CREATIVITY in kids. Pilkey has raised the bar for society in such a subtle way that the average person misses the point and assumes the book is about potty humor. The bad guys in his books do all the name calling and eventually get punished. The good guys value their family and friendships. If you get a chance you should see Pilkey’s touching video, “Super Diaper Baby 2: Behind the Blankies”, where he explains why he uses misspellings. Also, you should watch Sir Ken Robinson on You Tube. Sir Ken Robinson is a university professor, educator and director of TED. He may change your views about education and creativity. He is also an entertaining speaker.
I apologize if I seemed to attack your opinion about the misspellings. I appreciate your honest opinion but was hoping to enlighten you about the reasons Pilkey purposefully misspells words in these graphic novels which are supposed to be written by 2 fourth grade boys. He explains the reasons in his video. It mostly comes from his experiences as a child and adults feeling they know what is best for their kids. Just wanted people to realize that sometimes trying to “help” a child may actually harm them. A mother of an autistic child was against Pilkey’s books until she found her son reading Pilkey’s books. The autistic child read with confidence because of the intentional misspellings. It completely changed her opinion about these books and it has changed her son’s life.
I guess I get annoyed when the term “reluctant readers” gets thrown around. Some books are made to inspire advanced readers. I know of many advanced readers who are huge fans of Pilkey’s and he has inspired them to become creative thinkers. We need kids to look outside the box. Maybe as parents we can encourage our kids to draw and write their own stories.
I understand what you’re saying and am aware of Ken Robinson and the autistic parent as well. I’m aware of the Pilkey video as well. Like I said, I’d be thrilled if I had a child who hated to read bring ANY book home that they wanted to read. I personally though struggle w/ the misspellings and grammar and am going to be honest about it when I write a review. I don’t write reviews to placate publishers or authors. I write what I think about the book, regardless of what everyone else might think of it. Also, my site is geared towards dads. I try and give them honest assessments of the books so they know what they’re getting into. Again, I thank you for reading.
Since reading literature is supposed to enhance one’s mind and enable one to discover new ideas and experiences, I have one last question: If you had an autistic child or perhaps one that is considered a genius, and both children responded positively to books for the first time due to Pilkey’s method of writing, would you still be bothered by the misspellings?
Thanks for the discussion.
I would love to win these books for the Jr High school. THanks for the chance
Chris,
I am not interested in book giveaway. Because Super Diaper Baby 2 was the first book my daughter requested to go to Barnes and Noble to buy! She had a gift card from her Girl Scout cookies sales to pay for the book too.
I haven’t read it all yet myself. I just like seeing my daughter excited about a book!
By the way, Great discussion above!
would love to win these my daughter loves these books and I would love to add them to her collection
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