- Illustrated Chapter Books
- Ages 7–10
- Comedy
Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers
Book 9 of 12 in Captain UnderpantsView the full series
A longer, more backstory-heavy Captain Underpants entry that brings Professor Poopypants back as Tippy Tinkletrousers. It is still silly, but bullying and prison/time-travel peril make it a notch more intense.
- Best for7–10
- FormatIllustrated
- Length304 pp
- Read aloud~4 hr20 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Conversational
- Comedic
- Onomatopoeic
Tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Irreverent
- Absurdist
- Exciting
Themes
- Friendship
- Power and authority
- Resilience
- Consequences of actions
- Creativity and imagination
- Fairness and justice
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Professor Poopypants is back, now calling himself Tippy Tinkletrousers, and he is still furious about the teasing that turned him into a villain. George and Harold are also in serious trouble: they are behind bars for a crime they did not commit before being pulled into another time-travel mess. The ninth Captain Underpants book is longer and more involved than earlier entries, mixing revenge, time travel, school backstory, bullying dynamics and the usual stream of absurd jokes. It gives readers more of George and Harold's history as friends and pranksters, while also continuing the series' pattern of making grown-up authority look ridiculous. Because of the prison setup and bullying thread, this is a little more emotionally and conceptually intense than the pure toilet-monster entries, but it remains comic, fast and very readable.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 7–10
- Read aloud · 7–10
- Independent · 7–11
Prose load
Moderate
Visual support
High
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Reading together
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: bullying.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
3 / 5 · Mostly fine
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Reluctant reader pick
- Time travel silliness
- School backstory
- Series continuation
- Comic prose hybrid
Avoid if
- Sensitive to bullying
- Dislikes toilet humour
- Wants shorter entries
- Prefers gentle books
Particularly good for children who are…
- Reluctant reader
- Struggling with reading
- Being bullied
- Neurodiversity or learning differences
In the classroom
How it works in school.
The anarchic, wildly funny Captain Underpants series — a legendary reluctant-reader hook and classroom-library staple.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The hook is the return — Professor Poopypants from book four, now Tippy Tinkletrousers, back for revenge in a giant robot. A seven-year-old who read book four feels enormously rewarded for remembering. Longer than earlier volumes and a notch more intense, but the time-travel kindergarten sequence is one of Pilkey's funniest.
- Time travel
- Breaking the rules safely
- Revenge on adults
- Trickery and cleverness
- Friendship and belonging
Why parents love it
The volume that resurrected the series after a six-year gap, and the one that quietly stretched it. Best handed to a child who's read at least books one to four — the return-of-Poopypants joke does the work it should. A little more intense than earlier books (prison setting, bullying), but still firmly cartoon.
- Shared humour
- Quick to read
- Nostalgia
In the series
Captain Underpants.
12 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
Dav Pilkey.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
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- Waterstones ↗
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- Hive ↗
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