Underwear!

July 19, 2019

PreS-Gr 1-A small bear finishes his bath and is about to get dressed. His bespectacled papa gets exasperated when his little cub would rather play with his pair of underwear than wear them. First he pretends to not find them, with a play on words,"under where?," "under there?," and so forth. The rambunctious little bear then decides underwear makes awesome hair, a superhero mask, and other imaginative play items. When Papa hears playful chaos coming from the bathroom, he storms in. A crouching little bear pounces on him, bare bear bottom and underwear on his head. Eventually, Papa gets the little bear dressed and into bed. Cute, digitally rendered cartoon characters are surrounded by wiggles, splatters, and other textures to convey an abundance of action and energy. Edge-to-edge colored pages with a white, blocky font exemplifies the humorously cartoonish antics. Concise, rhyming wordplay flows easily. VERDICT Young readers will delight in the small bear's high spirits and all readers will have their funny bones tickled.-Mindy Hiatt, Salt Lake County Library Services

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 15, 2019
A "Who's on First" sketch featuring underwear.After a bath, a happy-as-a-clam, carefree "Bare Bear" is halted in their soggy tracks by a very serious parental figure in the bathroom doorway: "Stop right there! / You should be wearing / underwear!!!" Whether the child truly mishears the parent's words, is unfamiliar with the garment altogether, or is fooling around won't matter to readers in the slightest: They will be too busy laughing hysterically at the cub's antics. Once a spare pair of tighty whities has been procured (the first had a big tear), the parent allows some privacy, and the cub ponders, "Where to wear this underwear?" The cub's unbridled enthusiasm and vibrant imagination will keep kids in stitches ("Underwear makes awesome hair"), though the parent bear is not as amused ("What the heck's goin' on in there?!"). Still, once yet another pair is pulled from the drawer, the two share a book together, and then it's off to bed, but the adult's ill-chosen goodnight wish provokes one last parting shot from the tot. Harney's digital illustrations keep the focus on the bears by using monochrome colors for all but the salient details. Facial features and body language are spot-on, and the rollicking rhymes are the icing on the cake. This will be a riotous hit wherever it's shared, though be prepared to see underwear worn in lots of different ways. (Picture book. 3-6)

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