The Adventures of Captain Underpants

The Adventures of Captain Underpants is an American children's novel by Dav Pilkey, and the inaugural novel of the Captain Underpants series. It was published in September 1997, becoming a hit with children around the world. In the novel, George Beard and Harold Hutchins turn their principal, Mr. Krupp, into the "greatest superhero of all time", The Amazing Captain Underpants. It has spawned many sequels and subseries such as Super Diaper Baby, Dog Man, and The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future.

Plot
George Beard and Harold Hutchins are two mischievous fourth-graders who attend Jerome Horwitz Elementary School in Piqua, Ohio. They are known for making comic books featuring Captain Underpants, a superhero of their own creation. After the boys wreak havoc on the school's football game with an array of practical jokes, their principal, Mr. Krupp, threatens to expose their mischief to the football team using video evidence unless they submit to a list of rules he gives them. George and Harold find themselves burdened with good behavior, extra homework, and chores for Krupp.

To escape their punishment, George orders a "3-D Hypno-Ring" from the Li'l Wiseguy Novelty Company. Armed with this device, the boys use the ring to hypnotize Krupp, and Harold replaces Krupp's videotape with one of his little sister's "Boomer the Purple Dragon" sing-along videos. George jokingly instructs Krupp to behave like a chicken, a monkey and finally (the most incredible from the comics) Captain Underpants and Krupp dresses as the same, but, suddenly leaves the school to fight crime, and the boys follow him. They find "Captain Underpants" confronting a pair of bank robbers and carry him away.

The three witness two robots stealing a large crystal from a shop and follow them to an abandoned warehouse. There, Captain Underpants is tied up by the nefarious Dr. Diaper, who harbors a plan to annihilate the Moon with his crystal-powered Laser-Matic 2000. George uses a slingshot to hurl fake dog feces between Dr. Diaper's legs. Believing the feces to be his own, Dr. Diaper goes to change himself, gifting George and Harold the opportunity to destroy the robots and free Captain Underpants. Harold pulls the machine's self-destruct lever just as Dr. Diaper returns. After Captain Underpants subdues Dr. Diaper, he and the boys escape before the entire warehouse explodes, leaving Dr. Diaper for the police to apprehend.

Back at school, Captain Underpants redresses as Krupp so the boys can reverse the hypnosis, but they have misplaced the ring's manual. George impulsively pours a vase of water on Captain Underpants's head, reverting him to Krupp. After Krupp leaves with Harold's videotape, George finds the manual and throws it away, failing to notice a warning that immersing a hypnotized person in water will cause them to relapse into their trance at the sound of fingers snapping. George and Harold return to their usual mischief, but realize they must keep Mr. Krupp from hearing finger snaps, which turns him back into Captain Underpants.

Title change
Early printings of the book have "An Epic Novel by Dav Pilkey" instead of "The First Epic Novel by Dav Pilkey", and the "Little Apple" logo on the cover.

Development
On why he focused on underwear in the book, Pilkey stated "I think underwear is funny because you’re not supposed to laugh at it."