Who Wet My Pants?

Starred review from May 27, 2019
The animal scout troop is gathered around the campfire, and Reuben, a bear, is just about to hand out donuts when everyone notices a crescent-shaped wet patch at the crotch of his pants. The bear immediately and improbably deflects the blame: “Who wet my pants?” he shouts, and he begins accusing his friends of doing the deed. But the other scouts, who include a yeti, a turtle, and a hippo, don’t rise to the bait; in fact, they’re models of discretion and understanding. “Don’t worry about it, Reuben,” a dog scout says. “It could happen to anyone.” Reuben never does own up (a funny flashback explains the accident’s cause) and ultimately faults his “leaky broken pants” for causing him to blame his pals. His friends, for their part, wisely move on—and start passing the donuts. The woodsy-hued pictures feature thick black outlines and flattened perspectives in Ohora’s trademark style; text told via dialogue balloons lends hilarity. Shea (Crash, Splash, or Moo!) and Ohora (Bikes for Sale) make a terrific team, creating a comedy that is at both laugh-out-loud off-kilter and deeply humane. Ages 4–8.

June 1, 2019
Kindness is revealed to be the best answer to embarrassment and anger in this funny take on peeing in your pants. "Somebody better come clean about my wet pants." Reuben, a bear in a scouting uniform, interrogates the whole forest troop to determine who wet his pants. He even holds the doughnuts hostage until he can flush out the guilty party and get what he wants: justice and dry pants. The animals of Troop 73, all blushing with blame (or perhaps embarrassment for their friend?), are dressed in khakis and kerchiefs and sit around a warm campfire. "I'll get to the bottom of my wet pants if it's the last thing I do!" yells Reuben. The illustrations are as insistent as Reuben. OHora's pink, brown, and green-dominated color scheme gives the pages an indie vibe; they're full of cool things that catch the eye: a potable-water pump, the string-tied doughnut box, and plenty of perfect mushrooms. The scout badges--on both the uniforms and the endpapers--delight in their quirky charm. But this is more than a potty book for scouts. With each accusation, it becomes clear that Reuben will do anything to avoid blame--a character trait familiar to readers, no doubt. Luckily for Reuben, his empathetic friends treat him with kindness, and forgiveness ultimately leaks from the pages. It is not an accident that there is more here than meets the eye. (Picture book. 5-8)

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September 1, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-Reuben is going on a camping trip with his scout group, and when he arrives to the campsite he has wet pants. He wants to know who is responsible. All of Reuben's friends are supportive and tell him that it is okay if he wet his pants; it happens to everyone. However, Reuben is sure that someone else wet his pants. As Reuben retraces his steps and confronts his friends, he slowly comes to the realization that no one else wet his pants. The pants are broken! Reuben forgives his friends and shares the donuts he has brought along. The illustrations are done in bold colors and offers compelling details of the work that needs to be completed on a camping trip. The other animals are cute, and offer Reuben understanding and compassion as he struggles with his wet pants. The message of the book is for kids to learn to offer understanding and empathy when something embarrassing happens to a friend. It even shows Reuben behaving in an illogical way, but his friends still love him. VERDICT A cute story to help teach social emotional learning.-Nicole Detter-Smith, Homestead High School, IN

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2019
Grades K-2 *Starred Review* Along with being a front runner for best picture-book title of the year, Shea's latest collaboration is a quick study in how saving face can be a team effort. Returning to his scout camp from a doughnut run, Reuben the bear discovers that his pants are wet. Immediately he explodes in furious accusations (see title), all of which get only temporizing responses? It was probably just an accident, It could happen to anyone ?from one poker-faced member of the troop after another. But if there are any straight faces left in live audiences (particularly after Reuben's bellowed I'll get to the bottom of my wet pants if it's the last thing I do! ), they aren't going to survive the conclusion he reaches after recalling what he spent the day doing in those very same pants (chugging lemonade and walking past a waterfall, taking a nap with his paw in an aquarium): THESE PANTS ARE BROKEN! The discreet yellow stain around Reuben's crotch, plainly visible in each scene, will provide a further source of merriment. Dressed in scout uniforms, each member of the unusually diverse troop in OHora's woodsy illustrations is a different creature, and their unfeigned sympathy for Reuben makes this a fine counter to the schadenfreude-tinged likes of Suzy Senior's Octopants (2018), Rosemary Wells' Fiona's Little Accident (2018), Todd H. Doodler's Veggies with Wedgies (2014), or Mark Fearing's Giant Pants (2017).HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Shea's comic stylings have earned him plenty of eager fans, and OHora has illustrated a number of picture books funny enough to make anyone wet their pants.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)