Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants," R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps," and K.A. Applegate's "Animorphs" and "Remnants" series are highly popular with many children. What is the role of books like these in developing and deepening children's response to literature?

According to a report by Publisher's Weekly^[1] books such as Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants," Barbara Park's "Junie B. Jones" and the "Two of a Kind Series" by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen series are among the best selling books for children. If you look at the best books of the year chosen by the American Library Association, (see http://www.ala.org/alsc/nbook03.html) or those chosen by book review journals such as School Library Journal, The Horn Book, or Booklist you will not find any of these titles. What is the role of books like these in developing and deepening children's response to literature? Would you include them in your classroom library? Read them aloud? Include them as selections in book groups? Explain your decisions.

^[1] (Diane Roback "Big Names Top the Charts," March 24, 2003.)