The kids’ publisher Scholastic is pulling a book by Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey, saying it “perpetuates passive racism” toward Asian Americans. And Pilkey is also apologizing for the spin-off graphic novel, The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, saying it was meant to promote diversity and conflict resolution. “But this week it was brought to my attention that this book also contains harmful racial stereotypes and passively racist imagery,” he said in a statement. “I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly apologize for this. It was and is wrong and harmful to my Asian readers, friends, and family, and to all Asian people.” Scholastic is asking that stores return all copies and is informing schools that purchased the book that it contains offensive content.
