ANTS IN MY PANTS

Talk about imaginary friends—this entire bestiary is conjured to rescue Jacob from a morning of shopping with his mother. Jacob is toasty in his pajamas and happy playing with his trains when his mother warbles: “We have to go shopping and it’s time to get dressed.” Jacob is miffed. “I want to stay here today,” he retorts, but no dice. So Jacob starts a delaying tactic: with each article of clothing his mother has him put on, he finds a creature crawling or dressed in it. There are ants in his pants, for goodness sakes, and fox in his socks and geese in his fleece, a goat in his coat and newts in his boots. With mildly growing irritation, his mother says she can’t see the animals, but really, says Jacob, there are kittens in his mittens and a bat in his hat . . . Until, voilà, they open the door and there really is snow on the ground. “ ‘This is fun,’ shouted Jacob. ‘Let’s just stay home and play.’ ” His mother assents and returns inside for her hat; guess who is sitting inside that? Jacob’s creative stalling will find plenty of eager students in young readers, and that cat enshrined like a Buddha in the mother’s hat a perfect subversion of reality versus fantasy. Mould’s lovely line-and-wash drawing keep this contest of wills from ever having too sharp an edge. (Picture book. 2-5)