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The Barnes & Noble Review
Potty humor is alive and well (and surprisingly refreshing) in Dav Pilkey's delightful series featuring an unlikely and unwitting superhero named Captain Underpants, who is actually a school principal. This time out, troublemaker students George and Harold are desperate to curtail the evil doings of their teacher, Ms. Ribble, who swears she is going to flunk them both after they wreak all kinds of havoc throughout the school. But things go woefully awry after the boys use their special 3-D Hypno Ring to try to turn Ms. Ribble into a wimpy woman who will do whatever they tell her to. Instead, they create a dastardly villain with a deadly beehive hairdo filled with special robotic claws.
The end result is the perfect nemesis for our underwear-wearing superhero: a wildly wicked woman armed with plenty of spray starch and robotic claws that excel at giving whopping wedgies. It's up to Harold and George to save the day (and principal Krupp), but it's for certain that things will get much, much worse before they ever get better. Pilkey's penchant for puns makes the story as much fun for adults to read as it is for kids, even if some of the jokes are real groaners. Pilkey ratchets up the fun even more by alternating his kinetic illustrations and story text with several sections of homemade comics that provide some of the history behind Captain Underpants's creation. And of course, no Captain Underpants adventure would be complete without a few pages of Flip-O-Rama action to provide some cheap and cheesy animation for the fight scenes.
It may not be great literature, but this latest installment in the Captain Underpants series is flush with kiddie humor -- guaranteed to generate tons of giggles and keep young hands and minds busy for hours. (Beth Amos)
Publishers Weekly
Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman serves up waistband-expanding comedy in this fifth story in the series. George and Harold struggle to pass fourth grade after their comic book imaginings rub their teacher, Ms. Ribble, the wrong way. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
Gr 2-5-Fans need not worry. Pilkey's imagination shows no sign of flagging here. When George and Harold's evil teacher announces her departure, she forces the class to write "Happy Retirement" cards for her. Instead, the two boys create a comic book in which they turn Ms. Ribble into the titular "Wicked Wedgie Woman." She sees the book, tells them that they are not allowed to use their imagination in school, and sends them posthaste to the principal. The two friends seize the opportunity to get him to sign a blank card to which they add his protestations of love for Ms. Ribble. Hilarious wedding high jinks ensue (but no marriage). To prevent the villainous woman from retaliating, the protagonists hypnotize her with their 3-D Hypno-Ring. Their plan backfires and a cosmic battle follows, complete with the familiar Flip-O-Rama feature. Among the highlights of this book is an alliterative post-wedding food fight in which, for example, the "creamy candied carrots clobbered the kindergarteners." There is a great deal of laugh-out-loud humor that will appeal to a wide audience. "Captain Underpants" is still one of the best series to get reluctant readers reading.-Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Trying to salvage failing grades, George and Harold use their handy 3-D Hypno Ring on termagant teacher Ms. Ribble-and succeed only in creating a supervillain with a medusa-like 'do and a yen to conquer the world with wedgie power. Using a pair of robot sidekicks and plenty of spray starch, she even overcomes Captain Underpants. Is it curtains (or rather, wedgies) for all of us? Can the redoubtable fourth graders rescue the Waistband Warrior (a.k.a. Principal Krupp) and find a way to save the day? Well, duh. Not, of course, without an epic battle waged in low-budget Flip-O-Rama, plus no fewer than three homemade comics, including an "Origin of Captain Underpants" in which we learn that his home planet of Underpantyworld was destroyed by the . . . wait for it . . . "Starch Ship Enterprize." As in the previous four episodes, neither the pace nor the funky humor ("Diapers and toilets and poop . . . oh my!") lets up for a moment. Pilkey is still having entirely too much fun with this popular series, which continues to careen along with nary a whiff of staleness.
From the Publisher
The critics are CRAZY about UNDERPANTS!
"Irresistible." -- Entertainment Weekly
"Call Pilkey... the savior of the 'reluctant reader.'" -- USA Today
"So appealing that youngsters won't notice that their vocabulary is stretching." --
School Library Journal
"Pilkey's sharp humor shines, and is as much fun for parents as their young readers."
-- Parents' Choice Foundation
"Combines empowerment and empathy with age-appropriate humor and action." --
Booklist
"Celebrates the triumph of the good-hearted." -- The Educational Book and Media
Association
