Naked!

Starred review from March 3, 2014
“Naked!” It’s fun to say and fun to be, as the team behind 2012’s I’m Bored proves with this tribute to the (temporarily) clothes-free life. “I’m naked!” shouts Black’s impish narrator fresh from the bath his private parts artfully concealed by page edges, his bare feet, and a sheet of paper (“I could go to school naked”). Add a cape and cookies, and life can’t get much better—well, until the shivers set in, and then dragon PJs become the sensible choice (“The cape stays on,” the boy proclaims, admiring himself in the mirror. “Awesome”). Ohi, working in more fully (ahem) fleshed out scenes than in I’m Bored, is an inventive, irreverent portraitist of domestic life—readers won’t be able to anticipate where her comic sense of composition will take them next (spoiler: one perspective is a bird’s-eye view of a naked Hokey Pokey, complete with dance steps diagram). Certain to inspire gleeful mimicry—not that some kids need much of an excuse to ditch their duds. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown.

March 15, 2014
One boy's birthday suit gets a bit of a workout in this heartfelt paean to going au naturel. Having tackled ennui in I'm Bored (2012), Black and Ohi reunite in this tale of one boy's determination to encounter the world totally barrier-free. Finding himself without clothing in the bath, the pink-skinned lad waxes eloquent on the freedom of the flesh. He zips around the house, smugly crowing and then dreaming of what it would be like to be naked 24/7. He may deign to wear some clothing, so long as it's a cape, but that's as clothed as he'll go. That is, until it becomes clear that, if nothing else, clothes are useful in preventing you from freezing your tuchis off. Black's tale is interesting not so much for its content, which has been done before, as for the sheer joy the young nudist exhibits. In fact, it may go so far as to persuade more straight-laced children to try the lifestyle out for themselves. As for the art, squeamish parents needn't fear. Ohi appears so reticent to show true nudity that her boy doesn't exhibit so much as a butt crack. (But that won't stop little listeners from giggling.) Doesn't cover particularly new nude territory, but children equally enthralled with going out in their altogethers will appreciate the enthusiasm here. (Picture book. 2-6)

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April 1, 2014

PreS-Gr 2-Black and Ridpath Ohi follow up on their I'm Bored (S & S, 2012) with another humorous picture book that taps into children's emotions. After soaking in a bubble bath, a rambunctious little boy runs through the house in his birthday suit. His parents' initial facial expressions suggest that they do not share in their son's enthusiasm, but eventually Mom lightens up. The exuberant youngster imagines the fun of attending school, playing on the playground, and dancing the Hokey Pokey, all in the nude. Each time he stops for a cookie snack, he settles down a bit. When the lad puts on a cape and starts to feel cold, he changes his mind about the value of clothing. In the end, the exhausted boy falls asleep in his dinosaur hooded pajamas. Black's peppy writing style sets a fast pace for the story, and the child's behavior is believable. There's also a lesson here about one practical reason for wearing clothing. The whimsical digital artwork adds energy and color to the story. Characters' moods are nicely shown through their changing facial expressions, while the illustrator's choices of poses for the child leave anatomical details to the reader's imagination. Images of the boy are replicated on the brightly colored endpapers. Parents sharing this story one-on-one with a child will find the picture book humorous on both a child and adult level.-Lynn Vanca, Freelance Librarian, Akron, OH

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