Super Diaper Baby is exactly what he sounds like: a baby who wears diapers and has superpowers. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby was the first graphic novel by George Hutchins and Harold Beard, who are themselves characters created by Dav Pilkey. George and Harold are mischievous little rascals who draw comic books whose characters come to life due to strange scientific happenings. Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers is the follow-up to Super Diaper Baby and is George and Harold’s third epic novel.
When I asked my going-on-8-year-old what the Super Diaper Baby books are about, he launched into a page-by-page explanation of the books. I’ll spare you his diatribe and just summarize the books. In the first Super Diaper Baby, a baby named Billy drinks super power juice (created by zapping Captain Underpants’s powers) that was intended for Deputy Dangerous, aka the bad guy, and gains the Captain’s superpowers. Deputy Dangerous attempts to steal Super Diaper Baby’s power but instead gets turned into poo. Hijinks ensue as Deputy Dangerous tries to get back at Super Diaper Baby, but he ends up on – where else? – Uranus. Along the way Danger Dog, Deputy Dangerous’s sidekick, saves Super Diaper Baby and becomes Diaper Dog. Got all that?
If the first book sounded convoluted (and a bit gross), Super Diaper Baby 2 takes it to a whole new level. George and Harold are told by Principal Krupp not to write any more books about poo. So of course, they write a book about pee. Dr. Dilbert Dingle invents a machine that turns solid material into water. His cat accidentally aims the machine at Dingle, turning him into water. The cat drinks Dingle in his water form and then pees him out. After being rejected by the townspeople because, well, he smells like pee, Dingle takes revenge in a very Grinch-like manner. Super Diaper Baby and Diaper Dog save the day and Dingle ends up on Uranus along with Deputy Dangerous.
I have to admit I found myself snickering a few times, despite myself. Sure there are misspellings, lots of potty humor and name-calling (though only the bad guys call each other names), but the book is geared to ages 7-10, and Pilkey sure knows how to appeal to that age range. Kids who are fans of the Captain Underpants books are sure to like the Super Diaper Baby books. There’s even a heartwarming moment when Super Diaper Baby lets his dad, who’s been feeling bad about himself because his infant son has all of these abilities and doesn’t really need him, think that he’s the one who’s capturing the bad guy.
Scatological humor isn’t really my thing, but if a book like Super Diaper Baby 2 gets my reluctant reader to read it start to finish in under an hour, I’m not complaining.
Check out the book trailer:
5 Minutes for Books was happy to participate in the “10 QUESTIONS WITH DAV PILKEY” blog tour. Click on over to the Q&A post to read our questions and his answers, and to enter the giveaway for a copy of both Super Diaper Baby books. Comments are closed on this post to ensure giveaway entries in the correct place.
Nancy thinks it would be cool to have super powers. She writes about her boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys