Dav Pilkey talks Underpants

31/08/2012 by David Maybury · No Comments

After a six year hiatus Dav Pilkey returns to the shelves this month, with Captain Underpants' ninth book - The Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers.

EW caught up with Pilkey to get the scoop on what he's been up to - here's a snippet: 

Why the hiatus?
I intended to write the next book right away, it’s just that my father got ill and so my wife and I were helping to take care of him. It wasn’t a good time for me to be writing and after he passed it just took me a long time to get back into the swing of things.

The go-to compliment for children’s literature is always “It gets kids to read.” But your books also encourage them to write and be creative.
It was always a dream in the back of my head that some kid would be so inspired that they’d staple some pages together, grab some pencils, and make their own comics. Now I get comics sent to me every month from all over the world. This isn’t a homework assignment for them. Nobody’s standing over them saying, “You need to do this comic.” These kids are doing it on their own and that’s really, really cool to me.

Have you gotten push-back from parents who feel bodily functions have no place in literature?
Every now and then, there will be a parent who just doesn’t think that it’s funny and they’ll try to get my books banned.  But fortunately, I’ve never met a kid who thought that way. My target audience gets it.

 

You can check out the full story on EW.com. While you're here take a peek at the book trailer and of course... there's an animated Dreamworks adaptation in the works, headed up by Lauren Faust (of Powerpuff Girls fame) with John C. Reilly and Diedrich Bader tied to the voice cast. We'll keep you updated as the film development progresses.