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ANIMALS IN PANTS

A tailor-made parade for younger clotheshorses.

In this collection of poems, rhymed commentary sets off a menagerie of elegantly attired fashionistas strutting their stuff.

“Far below a barren field that’s looking fairly frozen / groundhogs dance the polka in their cozy lederhosen.” With sure command of metrics as well as excellent comic timing, Levinson dishes out pithy observations on animals from “Lions and tiger and bears (oh my!)” to snakes and spiders, all striking poses in the Howdeshells’ flat, screen print–style fashion plates. If some choices of attire do not come off as well (“Cheetahs in leopard-print leggings? / So sleek! / Horses in zebra-print jeggings? / Trés chic! / Porcupines stuffed into unitards? / Eek”), still, the deer and antelope leaping balletically in sweatpants, gyrating “King-aroos” in sequined jumpsuits and “blue / suede / shoes,” and a trash can tableau of “raccoons… / in fine pantaloons” exude élan as seemingly effortless as the rhymes. Nor is outerwear all that’s in the closet: “Do you wonder / what is under / every turtle’s shell? / Underpants are what is under. / Undershirts, as well.” Those shells probably chafe something fierce. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A tailor-made parade for younger clotheshorses. (Picture book/poetry. 5-8)

Pub Date: April 11, 2023

ISBN: 9781951836627

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Cameron Kids

Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023

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CREEPY PAIR OF UNDERWEAR!

Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...

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Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.

Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.

Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017

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THE WONKY DONKEY

Hee haw.

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The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.

In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.

Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: May 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1

Page Count: 26

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018

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