York Daily Record from York, Pennsylvania • 6

6 i YORK DAILY RECORD SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2003 Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. RXHARD STEELE, AUTHOR 'S' H' nmoiim Color and cut out this bookmark for Kwanzaa. Go to www.ydr.com for other holiday bookmarks. o. BOOK REVIEWS if FROM 'CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE WRATH OF THE WICKED WEDGIE WOMAN' Kids love him, but adults arent sure.

Heres the poop, on Captain Underpants ABOUT THE AUTHOR Happy Kwanzaa! 6666666 A A A A A A A York Daily Record ydrcom DAILY RECORD TRACEY BISHER CULLEN GUEST READER Froggy visits Collinsville Community Library, 2632 Delta Road, Brogue, will hold a special story time at 10:30 a.m. Saturday when newly elected York County Commissioner Doug Kilgore will read Froggys Best Christmas by Jonathan London. Froggy will visit and a Christmas treat will be given to all who attend. BOOX SIGrS 7TnfTTiTiiirmrra Childrens author Carol Haile of Reading will sign copies other second book, A Dream Vacation," at 2 p.m. Saturday at Borders Books Music, 3000 Whiteford Road, Spfingettsbury Township.

Her childrens book highlights the experiences of two pandas on Noahs Ark. Louise Coffman of York, author of Abners Story and Abners Escape, will sign her books from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday atBookland, South York Value Center, 2114 S. Queen St, York Township.

best sellers Strong interest in Code i Borders best Following are last weeks best sellers at Borders Books Music in Spring-ettsbury Township. 1. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. 2. The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom.

1 3. The Big Bad Wolf" by James Patterson. 4. Trojan Odyssey by Clive Cussler. 5.

Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King. Hey kids! Tell us about your fa- -vorite authors and books. Your re- -views may be used with fiiture Lets I Read columns, Be sure to include your full name, age, grade, school, a phone number where we can reach you with questions, and a photo-graph. Rate your book on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 as best). I Submissions of no more than 150 -words should be sent to Karen I Muller, York Daily Record, P.O.

Box 15122, York, 17405-7122 or kmulle- rydr.com. Title: Football Nightmare, Author: Matt Christopher For ages: 8 to 12 Review: Keith is playing in a football game and there are 20 seconds left with the score remaining 21-24. Keiths team is losing by a field goal. Keiths team, the Bucks, plan for the quar- terback to throw the ball to Keith in the end zone so he can make a touch-! down. But Keith drops the ball and the Bucks lose.

Soon, Keith is think- ing about not playing football anymore. Will he make a comeback? Rating: 4 Brit Boyer, 10 Shrewsbury Elementary School, fourth grade Title: Arthur and the No-Brainer Author: Marc Brown For ages: 7 to 9 Review: The Brain answers two questions wrong, and he is upset with Buster. But then the Brain and Buster get back to being friends again by Buster not being in the marathon and they play together. Rating' 4 Adam Smeltzer, 8 Dallastown Elementary School, third grade Title: The Swamp Monster in the Third Grade Author: Debbie Dadey For ages: 7 to 10 Review: Jake the swamp monster eats carrots, and he turns into a person. When he is in school for a while, he wants to turn back into a swamp monster.

Emily is not strong enough to put him back in the water after he turns back into a swamp monster, so Nancy helps. Rating: 4 Aspen Gatewood, 8 Dallastown Elementary School, third grade Title: Horrible Harry and the Kickball Wedding Author: Suzy Kline For ages' 7 to 10 Review: Harry wants to get married and Song Lee doesnt want to at first But then she asks her mom and her mom says yes. So the problem is solved because Harry is marrying his true love, and he is very happy about that They get married in the yard at school, and all of their friends are there. Rating 5 1 Brittany Stokes, 9 Dallastown Elementary third grade Bom: March 4, 1966, in Cleveland Books: His work includes the Captain Underpants series, the Ricky Ricotta series, the Dumb Bunnies series, Big Dog and Little Dog senes, the Dragon series, The Paperboy, Julius, Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving," The Hallo-Wiener, and When Cats Dream Wrote his first book: World War Won in 1984, when he was a freshman art student at Kent State University One of his professors encouraged him He entered and won a national contest and flew to Kansas City, to meet the editors and publishers at Landmark Editions. His sweetheart: Childrens book author Cynthia Rylant, who he met at a writers group.

They moved to Oregon in 1993. Birth of an idea: Captain Underpants came when he was writing his own comic books in the hallway of his elementary school Pilkey, who was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and severe hyperactivity, was often at a desk in the hallway as a punishment for bad behavior in the classroom His teachers didnt approve of his comic books, but the rest of the class thought they were funny, he says at his Web site, www pilkey com. One of his teachers tore up his books and told him that he better fer says. They encourage her to read what she likes. Jennifer has read six of the Captain Underpants books and is hoping to read Pilkeys latest: Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers as soon as she finds a copy of it.

She shouldnt have much trouble. Since the first Captain Underpants book in 1997, 26 million copies have been printed, says Scholastic spokeswoman Kris Moran, compared to Harry Potter, with more than 90 million copies in print. The sixth Captain Underpants book The Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman topped the USA Today bestseller list which includes adult and childrens books when it was released in 2001. Also when Wedgie Woman debuted, it was No. 1 on the childrens bestseller list in the New York Times.

I have no idea what the appeal is, says Dean Holtzapple, a bookseller at Bookland in York Township. But they sell. When they first started, we couldnt keep them in the store. He says the books are popular mostly with 9- to 12-year-olds, but Pilkey does have older followers. Whenever a new one comes in, I always read it, says George Matthew, Remember the old commercial jingle, What would you do for a Klondike Bar? You could ask the same question of some Captain Underpants fans and get some crazy answers.

Seven-year-old Jennifer Peters wanted to read one of Dav Pilkeys books so badly, she crawled past her 12-year-old brother when he wasnt looking and reached into his bookshelf. And if you have an older brother, you will understand the gravity of her situation. The second-grader at Dallastown Elementary School snatched Captain Un-deprants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets, the second of the series, which ranks behind only the Harry Potter series in sales for its publisher, Scholastic. I thought, Wow, these are funny books, Jennifer says. A couple of words he doesnt even spell right.

Pilkeys intentional spelling, grammar, capitalization and punctuation errors, have Jennifers teacher, Melissa Graver, worried. The books, entertaining to kids but baffling to some adults, are poor models, she says, for children who are learning to read and write. But Graver doesnt share her concerns with the children, since the books do appeal to kids who may be reluctant readers. I guess they are better than reading nothing, she says. Kids say they like the comic-book style format and the action.

They like to flip the pages quickly with their thumb in the lower right corner for the cartoon flip-o-ramas. They like the idea of a superhero who wears only briefs and a towel cape and saves the world from evildoing toilets. Most of all, they like Pilkeys frequent use of booger, wedgie, butt, snot and poopypants. Yes, poopypants. The language keeps some teachers, such as Dee Grubb, another second-grade teacher at Dallastown Elementary, from reading the books aloud to her class.

I think some parents would object, she says. Theres probably nothing wrong with them except for a little bathroom humor. Jennifers parents dont mind, Jenni- "Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies From Outer Space by Dav Pilkey George and Harold and the captain really their principal Mr. Krupp after the boys have hypnotized him are back for more hijinks at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. This time, sinister cafetena ladies from outer space have turned all the students into evil zombie nerds A Tight, easy read for beginning or reluctant readers of all ages.

The June B. Park. If is ready for them a Jurne to make without Park has language of of the loveable and librarians and older. 4 SUBMUTEC Dav Pilkey, right, and friend. start taking life more senously because he couldnt spend the rest of his days making silly books.

Later, his high school principal told him that he would never make a living as an artist. head of youth services at Hanover Public Library. York County libraries carry multiple copies of all the Captain Underpants books. What were about is getting books in the hands of kids and making it an enjoyable experience, Matthew says. We hope that whatever it is, it is a step to other literature." The only problem is, when kids ask to read other books like Captain Underpants, Matthew is stumped.

The great thing about Captain Underpants is theres really nothing like him in the literature, he says. But maybe the best answer is that it wont be long before another new Captain Underpants book is out. Likely, it wont be Captain Underpants Gets Dressed and Does His Home-1 work. I dont know if 10 years from now, kids will still be asking for Captain Underpants, Matthew says. It would actually be kind of cool if they did.

Karen Muller's column appears monthly on the Books page. For more Lets Read, check out previous columns and children's book re- vieu'S at mow ydr.com Reach Karen Muller at 771-2024 or kmullerydr.coin. ROALD DAHL ILLUSTRATED ST QUENTIN SLAKE stort The Twite" by Roald Dahl. The Twits are mean, ugly and hateful, and they like to play tricks on each other, like when Mrs. Twit put a glass eye Mr.

Twits beer so he put a frog her bed If you enjoy this one, the same edgy humor spills mto Dahls other novels, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Matilda, James and the Giant Peach' and The BFG." For children 8 and older and a read-aloud for most any age CHECK THESE OUT vwmmvww 4 JaatelLJdgsf Yacky Elttcky Fruitcak the sumir 1 Jones senes by Barbara you know of someone who easy chapter books, give book. Junie manages trouble and confusion nonstop, ever really intending to. captured the nterests and a child with these stones little girl. A teachers pick. For children 6 "The Slippery Slope, Book the Tenth (A Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Smcket Picking up where the ninth book left off, Violet and Klaus are stuck the rolling caravan and are trying to rescue their sister, Sunny Their journey into the Mortmain Mountains leads to encounters with stinging snow gnats, strange snow scouts and, of course, Count Olaf.

Although younger children read this senes, because of the darker humor and sometimes challenging vocabulary, I would stick with the publishers recommendation for children 9 to 12 4 t- 4A.