Scholastic should alert librarians and educators about the book’s problems so informed decisions can be made about its future circulation. Make public apologies taking full responsibility for failing to address the racist content. Kim called on the author and publisher to take the following steps. Goppernopper obliterates his ancient ancestor Chief Goppernopper. Kim’s description of Wong is correct but doesn’t take mention that Master Wong saves the friends from capture by Goppernopper operatives or that he is the only one who can explain why the world will be saved when J. The problems were the portrayal of Asian characters with dashes for eyes and the proverb-spouting Master Wong character. As a Korean-American, Kim was offended by the portrayal of Asians in the book and when his attempts to air those objections with Scholastic seemed to be going nowhere, on Mahe wrote a petition, “Scholastic Needs to Apologize for Publishing a Children’s Book Full of Racist Imagery,” signed with his initials.

The story tells how best friends Ook and Gluk stop a predatory twenty-first-century corporation from stripping the prehistoric world of its natural resources, thanks to learning kung-fu from Master Wong in 2222 A. This spring Billy Kim’s two children, both huge Pilkey fans, brought home from the public library The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, which was originally published by Scholastic in 2010. Links to most of my sources are inserted in the text.

Many of the accounts in the media presented similar versions of the story without raising questions or adding new information, even though the issues were more complicated than they reported. But none of Pilkey’s forty-odd books have been withdrawn until this spring when The Adventures of Ook and Gluk Kung-fu Cavemen of the Future was challenged. His most famous series of graphic novels, Captain Underpants, has made the American Library Association’s banned book list several times. How he tells the stories he invents is as controversial in some circles as they are beloved in others. Pilkey drawing his most famous character, Captain Underpants

The adventures of ook and gluk