Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 04/01/2026 Gr 2–5—Harold, George, and the eponymous Captain Underpants make the leap from chapter book to manga with surprisingly few changes. The manga follows the plot of the first "Captain Underpants" book pretty closely. Friends and comic creators Harold and George pull various pranks, ruining the school football game by planting pepper in the pompoms, helium in the footballs, and itching cream in the muscle rub. Caught in the act by their principal Mr. Krupps, who has installed video cameras everywhere, they are subjected to a miserable regime of good behavior and chores. Then they order a hypno-ring from a comic book and hypnotize Mr. Krupps, turning him into an underpants-clad superhero who ends up saving the moon from the evil Dr. Diaper. The manga has a higher page count than the original, but the art propels the story forward with speed lines, diagonal panels, shifting perspectives, and dramatic lighting, making the adaptation feel like a faster read. The book includes a couple of Pilkey's signature Flip-o-Rama features, where readers flip the pages rapidly to animate a scene, as well as a delightful Where's Waldo–esque crowd scene. Unlike most manga, the book is in color and reads from left to right. In fact, it's not entirely obvious that this is a manga because the style is one that has been adopted by many U.S. creators, but Motojiro is a veteran Japanese manga-ka with years of experience drawing for children, and this is a very well-crafted book. VERDICT Dynamic, clever, and funny, this manga adaptation keeps the best parts of the original and adds the special sauce only comics can bring. - Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.