Something's Wrong!

January 25, 2021
Jeff, an absentminded bear, has left his house forgetting that he’s wearing a pair of tighty-whities gifted to him by his grandmother. He senses that something isn’t right (“Just be cool, man. Play it cool”), a sneaking suspicion that’s confirmed by the shocked looks of his fellow forest animals. But no one will speak up—to Jeff, that is. The animals have no qualms turning to the reader and exclaiming, “Why is that bear wearing underwear?” It’s a classic nightmare scenario, one that happily turns into a tribute to friendship when the still-clueless Jeff seeks out best buddy Anders, a rabbit, who lays it all out (“Could it be that you left your house wearing underwear?”) and then deftly helps him recover from his mortification. Jeff’s increasingly desperate attempts at nonchalance (“I love nice weather. LOVE it. It’s cool to be warm. Ha ha”) and Anders’s confiding reassurances and quick thinking make all-dialogue text by John (It’s Not My Fault!) a gift for the readaloud set. He’s capably abetted by debut illustrator Kraan, whose textural earth-toned vignettes are gems of comic panic, dismay, and redemption. Ages 3–6. Illustrator’s agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Agency.

Starred review from January 15, 2021
A chatty bear causes a stir in the forest by leaving the house in an embarrassing pair of white underwear. When Jeff the bear runs down a checklist of things to do before leaving the cottage in the morning, one big item is forgotten: taking off the tighty whities that Grandma sent. As Jeff encounters pal after pal (none of whom wear underwear, nor indeed any human clothing), the bear has a sense that something is very wrong. But what could it be? Finally, after many animals break the fourth wall to ask readers, "Why is that bear wearing underwear?" Jeff goes to a rabbit friend named Anders who explains. And while there's a huge moment of awkwardness when all the animals show up, Anders and Jeff are able to seize the moment. The underpinnings of this charming picture book are already strong (underwear is inherently funny), and the babbling small talk Jeff engages in while trying to figure out what's wrong adds a lot to the increasingly silly situation ("Am I right or am I right? I think I'm right"). John's text perfectly pitches the jokes to a strong conclusion at just the right pace while Kraan's energetic illustrations, with hardly a straight line in the entire book, add to the sense of ultimately harmless cringe. The book is also a clever primer on handling embarrassment and how it can sometimes be dealt with by simply changing the perspective of what's happening. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.) This underwear affair is wise, witty, and just brief enough. (Picture book. 3-6)

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Starred review from April 1, 2021

PreS-Gr 3-The dreaded "I'm out in public only wearing my underwear!" dream comes true for a bear one day and he just doesn't realize why all the other animals in the forest are giving him such strange looks. What sets this gag into a much higher realm of storytelling is the lesson in friendship readers are given when the bear's friend Anders struggles openly with his reaction and then comes to boldly support his friend. Using woodcut prints and digital techniques, Kraan depicts the characters as charming in their puzzlement and hilarious in their underwear. This a wonderful example of illustration adding further to a very funny text. VERDICT Expect hilarity to ensue wherever underwear stories are a hit with the add-on bonus of this being a great title for discussions on the topic of allyship.-John Scott, Friends Sch. of Baltimore

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