Parents' Guide to

Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers: Captain Underpants, Book 9

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 7+

Fun, clever time-travel plot mixes with usual potty jokes.

Book Dav Pilkey Humor 2012
Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers: Captain Underpants, Book 9 Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

age 9+

Based on 3 parent reviews

age 8+

Great book

This is actually my favorite book of the series. I own all of them. But there are some things I want to talk about. This book isn't really about Tippy Tinkletrousers (formerly Professor Poopypants), it is about George and Harold's kindergarten days. There was a school bully named Kipper Krupp (whose is Mr. Krupp's nephew). He also has three other bullies as his friends. He is a bully to all kindergartens. George and Harold prank him by making him thing a ghost named Wedgie Magee is after him. But there are somethings other adults should know before reading this book. The first thing is that at the gas station, where Kipper Krupp, his three friends, and Billy Bill the gas station owner bully Harold. George removes the letters K and E from the sign Free Brake Inspection, making it read Free Bra Inspection. Women come and start hitting Billy Bill, causing a big traffic jam. Later Billy Bill goes out of business. I think as long as your 8-year-olds don't know what bra means, it will be fine. Later, George and Harold make their first comic book called the Adventures of Dog Man. At the end of the comic, there is some wine, but it is non-alcoholic. In the beginning of the book, Tippy escapes from Captain Underpants by going back in time. He goes back in time just as Kipper and his friends are running out of the school on a thunderstorm night. He accidentally frightens them, making them go bonkers. The police think Mr. Krupp is behind this, and Mr. Krupp gets fired. If there was no Mr. Krupp, there was no Captain Underpants. And if there was no Captain Underpants, no one was there to save the world. Where Tippy goes back to the present, he realizes his mistake. He vows to fix what he had done wrong. But an evil zombie nerd steps on Tippy and kills him, leaving behind a squishy red stain. But in the next book, it is revealed that Tippy wasn't killed, and the red stain was actually ketchup. I think if you get this book for your child, you should also buy the 10th book. Overall, I think this is still the best book in the series.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
age 12+
I was never super excited that my son wanted to read these books. He's a good reader and there is so much better out there for 8 year olds to read than this. But, when my 6 year old showed me the chapter in this book where the character removed some letters from a "Brake Inspection" sign to make it say "Bra Inspection" that pretty much sealed it for me. Funny? I guess? But completely not appropriate for a 6 or 8 year old boy. Not at all.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3):
Kids say (7):

Dav Pilkey is a master of enticing young kids, particularly boys, to their elementary-school libraries by writing exactly at their level -- bathroom humor and all. Although some parents don't appreciate the series' potty jokes and the misspellings (the stories within the book are written by George, in this case a kindergartner!), it's obvious why kids (and adults who enjoy a finely crafted comic adventure filled with toilet and time-travel gags) would find Pilkey's books irresistible.

There's so much to delight readers, from the "Flip-o-Rama" pages to the little interruptions to explain something else pivotal to the story (like the "Banana Cream Pie Paradox"). The book is packed with clever jokes, funny illustrations, and an impressive array of vocabulary words. Finally, readers find out exactly how protagonists/partners George and Harold met as incoming kindergartners -- an epic literary friendship for the under-10 set. And for parents reading along, there are plenty of references that will make grown-ups laugh out loud, like the chapter titled "Break in Two: Electric Boogaloo." Captain Underpants might be silly, but it's also an ingenious way to get young kids to read for pleasure.

Book Details

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