I have been working with a fourth grader for a number of months now. His parents speak English as a second language, and they are counting upon me to help him with writing his skills, reading comprehension, and vocabulary development. Truth be told, keeping my young student's focus was a constant struggle until he introduced me to Captain Underpants. I have to admit that when he first asked if we could read a Captain Underpants book, I was little uncertain. However, I am now 100 percent sold on using Captain Underpants as a teaching tool.

Now don't get me wrong. I know for a fact that when he reads these books by himself, he simply skips over any words he doesn't understand. I have set up a very specific curriculum while working with these books, and it seems to be working magic. If you have a fourth grader who doesn't like reading or writing, I urge you to try it as well.

1. I use the book in conjunction with a fourth grade composition book. Fourth grade composition books have the top half of the page black for drawing, and the bottom half of the page filled with lines for writing.

2. I began the first lesson by asking him to write one page explaining why he wanted to read the book. It was the first time that I'd seen him excited about writing. He happily wrote about how funny it was and carefully explained the "slam pages." He even drew a picture with directions and arrows to show me how it worked.

3. Next, we read the first chapter together; or rather he read the chapter to me. I jotted down any word that he mispronounced or didn't know in the blank area of the composition book. Occasionally I pointed out a word he missed, or quizzed him on what a word meant as he read. After he finished the chapter, we talked about the words he didn't know. I asked him if he could use them in a sentence. We also talked about what happened in the chapter. Who was in it; what happened; why did it happen; what was his favorite part?

4. Finally, I asked him to fill the bottom half of the page with an explanation of what happened in the chapter. His first reaction was, "I have to fill all this?" However, he filled it easily, and his last sentence ran over to the next page.

I was also surprised by the quality of the vocabulary in the books. On the first day, we learned putrid, suspiciously, deviously, anarchy, banned, preposterous, secretary, cosmos, and several more. I asked him to use as many of the the new words as he could while writing about the chapter. After a few promptings, he started to do it naturally.

I have been following this process for a half-dozen weeks now. My student reads to me; we discuss the chapter; and he writes about the chapter. After seeing the results, I have become a big believer in Captain Underpants. My student's writing is improving. His reading comprehension is improving. His vocabulary is improving. Even his punctuation is improving. Best of all, for the past month he has been asking the question, "Can we read now?!" whenever we get together.

Captain Underpants is a true hero.

Lynn Sager has toured over two-dozen countries and worked on three continents. Author of A River Worth Riding: Fourteen Rules for Navigating Life, Lynn currently lives in California; where she fills her time with private coaching, public speaking, and teaching writing for the LACCD and Pierce College. To read more about how to Navigating Life, visit her website at http://www.navigatinglife.org/ To read more articles on writing, visit her blog at http://creatingwritersworkshop.blogspot.com/