VERY HAIRY HARRY

New Yorker cartoonist Koren transfers his trademark hirsute, Bigfoot-like figures to a new format, but then doesn’t do much with them. Running to a few large words per page, the text is cast as Ben the Barber’s monologue as he distracts a young customer by suggesting such uses for extreme shagginess as staying warm in winter, hiding food, pets, and sports equipment, or making shade—but all he can conjure up for the downside is that it could be itchy. Stepping back into a knee-high pile of clippings at the end, Ben leaves Harry happily contemplating his new look (not all that much changed from the old) in the mirror. Next to fellow cartoonist William Steig’s Pete’s a Pizza, or, more on topic, Kathleen Krull’s Clip, Clip, Clip: Three Stories About Hair, illustrated by Paul Brewer, this comes off as a hesitant, under-plotted effort. (Picture book. 5-7)