TL;DR: Potty humor isn't "brain rot"—it's a gateway drug to literacy. If your kid is obsessed with Captain Underpants, Dog Man, or The Bad Guys, they aren't losing IQ points; they’re building the stamina to eventually tackle "real" books. These series use humor to lower the barrier to entry for reluctant readers, particularly in the 6-10 age range.
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If you’ve spent any time around a second grader lately, you know that the word "fart" is basically the peak of comedic achievement. It’s right up there with calling something "Ohio" or "Skibidi" (which, for the uninitiated, basically means "weird" or "bad" in the current elementary school vernacular).
As parents, we often want our kids to reach for The Chronicles of Narnia or Percy Jackson. But when they reach for a book about a principal in his underwear, our internal "intentional parent" alarm might go off. We worry they’re settling for low-brow content.
Here is the no-BS truth: Potty humor is subversive. To a kid, the bathroom is one of the few places where they have total autonomy, but it’s also a place shrouded in "don’t talk about that" rules. When an author like Dav Pilkey puts those "forbidden" topics into a book, he’s immediately on the kid's side. He’s saying, "I get it, and we’re going to have fun together." That bond is exactly what turns a kid who has to read into a kid who wants to read.
It’s easy to dismiss Captain Underpants as "junk food," but if you actually look at the text, the vocabulary is surprisingly sophisticated. Dav Pilkey uses alliteration, complex sentence structures, and puns that require a decent level of linguistic processing.
More importantly, these books use the graphic novel or "hybrid" format. For a kid who finds a solid page of text intimidating, the mix of illustrations, speech bubbles, and "Flip-o-rama" action sequences provides frequent dopamine hits. It keeps them turning the page. In a world where they are competing with the instant gratification of Roblox or YouTube, books need to bring some heat.
If you’re looking to stock your shelves with books that will actually get read, these are the current champions of the genre.
Ages 7-10 The OG of the genre. George and Harold are two pranksters who accidentally turn their mean principal into a superhero who wears a cape and briefs. It’s slapstick, it’s irreverent, and it’s genuinely funny. If your kid has already seen the Captain Underpants movie or the Netflix show, the books are even better.
Ages 6-9 If Captain Underpants is the gateway, Dog Man is the addiction. It follows a hero who is half-dog, half-policeman. The humor is visual, the puns are terrible (in a good way), and the themes of redemption and friendship are actually quite sweet. It’s currently the most-read series in many elementary schools for a reason.
Ages 7-10 A wolf, a shark, a snake, and a piranha try to be "good guys." This series leans heavily on the "subverting expectations" humor. There are plenty of butt jokes, but there’s also a fast-paced heist vibe that feels very cinematic. If they liked The Bad Guys movie, they’ll fly through these.
Ages 8-12 While less about literal "potty humor," this series captures the "gross-out" reality of middle school. From the "Cheese Touch" to the general awkwardness of puberty, Greg Heffley is the patron saint of the relatable, slightly-cringe kid.
Ages 8-11 This one is for the parents who are truly okay with leaning into the absurdity. It is exactly what the title suggests. It’s loud, it’s gross, and it is a massive hit with kids who think Captain Underpants is too "babyish."
Check out our guide on graphic novels that are actually "real" reading
When does potty humor stop being a literacy tool and start being a problem?
- Kindergarten - 1st Grade: They’re mostly just discovering the words. Books like Walter the Farting Dog are perfect. It's harmless.
- 2nd - 4th Grade: This is the "Golden Age" of the potty joke. This is where Dog Man reigns supreme. At this stage, your goal is volume. You want them reading as many pages as possible, and if it takes a piranha who eats burritos to do it, so be it.
- 5th Grade and Up: By this age, most kids start to transition into "cringe humor" or more sophisticated satire. If they are only reading potty humor at age 11, you might want to start introducing "bridge" books like Wings of Fire or The Last Kids on Earth which keep the action but elevate the themes.
There’s a lot of talk right now about "brain rot" content, specifically referencing things like Skibidi Toilet on YouTube. It’s easy to lump Captain Underpants into that category because, well, toilets.
But there is a massive difference between passively consuming a 15-second chaotic video and actively decoding a narrative in a book. Even if the book is about a "Turbo Toilet 2000," the child is still:
- Visualizing the action.
- Tracking a plot from beginning to middle to end.
- Building an internal dictionary of words they’ve seen in print.
Don't let the subject matter fool you. The cognitive load of reading a graphic novel is significantly higher than watching a YouTube Short.
Ask Screenwise: Is Skibidi Toilet actually harmful for my kid?
If the constant "fart" jokes at the dinner table are driving you crazy, you can set boundaries without shaming their reading choices.
Try saying: "I love that you’re reading that book and that it’s hilarious, but let's keep the 'potty talk' in the book or in the playroom, not at the dinner table."
You can also use these books as a jumping-off point for talking about authorial intent. "Why do you think Dav Pilkey made the principal the superhero? Why is it funny that he's in his underwear?" This moves them from passive consumption to critical thinking—the ultimate goal of any intentional parent.
If your child is a "reluctant reader," the goal isn't to get them to read The Odyssey. The goal is to get them to stop seeing reading as a chore.
Captain Underpants and his gross-out cousins are the best tools we have for that. They prove to kids that books can be just as funny, weird, and engaging as a video game. Once a kid realizes they can finish a 200-page book and actually enjoy it, the door to every other book is officially open.
- Check your library or Epic! for digital versions of these series to see what sticks.
- Don't judge the cover. If they’re laughing while reading, you’re winning.
- Find the "Bridge." Once they finish Dog Man, try moving them toward Max and the Midknights or Big Nate.
See our full list of "Gateway Books" for kids who hate reading