Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman

Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman is a properly bonkers comic-book romp for 7 year olds, starring a grumpy teacher whose hairdo comes to life.

What happens

It's the fifth Captain Underpants book. A quick comic by George and Harold at the front catches everyone up. Their head teacher, Mr Krupp, turns into a superhero in his pants whenever somebody snaps their fingers.

This time the trouble is Ms Ribble, their very strict teacher. She's retiring, so the class makes her cards. George and Harold make her a comic instead, starring a villain called Wedgie Woman. She is NOT impressed.

Then comes their cheekiest prank yet. They get Mr Krupp to sign a blank card, turn it into "Will you marry me?" and let him hand it over himself. Can you guess how the wedding goes? Let's just say there's a lot of flying cake.

Ms Ribble gets her own back by dropping their marks to Fs and Gs (G being a grade she's just made up). So out comes the old hypno-ring, and the boys firmly tell her NOT to turn into Wedgie Woman. You can probably see where this is going. One spilt carton of glowing green juice later, her beehive has a mind of its own. It builds two robots that look suspiciously like the boys.

It reads like a comic that's sneaked into a chapter book. There's a picture on almost every page, huge hand-drawn sound effects and two whole comics by the boys themselves (wonky spelling included). The narrator keeps butting in, and at one point a kickball tears right through the top of a page! The big fight is in Flip-E-Rama, four little animations you make by flicking between two pages. It's very easy to gobble up in one go.

The jokes are pants, wedgies and silliness all the way. Harold calls it "the Placenta Effect" when he means placebo, so be ready for a question at bedtime.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

The boys trick their head teacher into a proposal and the book is cheering them on. Their comic jokes that Ms Ribble is dead under a pile of book reports (she's rebuilt by the next panel). A running gag says the ring makes women do the opposite of what they're told, which feels very dated now. Hypnotising your teacher is treated as a perfectly good plan. Most fans will just giggle, but a child who takes things literally might want a quick chat.

What to read next

If they haven't met George and Harold before, go back to where the comics and the tree house began with The Adventures of Captain Underpants.