DO YOU LIKE MY PANTS?

It’s Cheetah versus Tiger in this battle of the…pants?

When Cheetah splits his drawers while executing some sweet dance moves, it’s a bona fide “PANTS EMERGENCY.” Fortunately, the lion salesclerk at the pants shop has in stock what he calls “THE WORLD’S FINEST PAIR OF PANTS!”: They’re olive green with peach-colored spots. (Naturally, Cheetah approves of spots.) At the park, Cheetah is peacocking in his smart new trousers when he meets Tiger, who isn’t impressed. Tiger shows off his own pants, which have olive-green and peach-colored stripes. (Naturally, Tiger approves of stripes.) Quoting the lion salesclerk from the pants shop, Tiger calls his trousers “THE WORLD’S FINEST PAIR OF PANTS!” Hey, wait a minute…Cheetah and Tiger realize that they’ve both been suckered by a smooth operator and that there’s no reason spots and stripes can’t be admired equally. This intermittently rhyming offering is in good company with its forebear: Dr. Seuss’ “The Sneetches,” another cautionary kid-pleaser in which a superficial attribute leads one party to feel unjustifiably superior to another. Shryock, in her first outing as author/illustrator, largely sticks with a très chic green, peach, blue, and black palette to capture the hilarious strutting braggadocio of the book’s absurdly long-legged and flexible cast of bipedal animals. (It turns out that Cheetah and Tiger aren’t the only ones who appreciate a high-waisted trouser.)

A caveat emptor story with yuks and sartorial swagger.