I Made These Ants Some Underpants!

April 3, 2023
Having proved their facility with tush humor in Does a Bulldozer Have a Butt?, creators Wilder and Steele now tap into another rich comic vein: underpants. The protagonist of this outing, a googly-eyed child portrayed with light brown skin, receives a days-of-the-week underwear set and immediately seeks to outfit others. When Mom gently demurs, rhyming lines trace the kid, who “gathered up my art supplies/ and did some calculation,” diving into a fancifully thorough campaign to bestow underpants near and far—and even when the recipient’s derriere may be difficult to discern. Among the newly underpanted are a line of ants given tiny pairs, an octopus with “six legs too many,” a python offered a long knitted tube, and a boomerang and a tortoise whose pairs are emblazed with “Speedy Skivvies.” Confident throughout, the child is equally sanguine when family and friends, portrayed with various skin tones, don’t embrace the cause. “If underpants are optional, then I don’t need a pair,” the child declares, jeté-ing away with a bare backside in full view—and giving readers one last act of chutzpah to cheer. Ages 3–5. Author’s agent: Jenna Pocius, Red Fox Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Erica Rand Silverman, Stimola Literary.

March 15, 2023
Who doesn't want a new pair of underpants? After receiving a gift of six pairs of day-of-the-week underwear (five for Monday through Friday and just one for the weekend), a child is inspired to pull out their arts and crafts supplies and make some very impressive and rather surprising undies to share with all of their real and imaginary friends. Their sister, some ants, a pirate, an octopus, a python, a tortoise, a bobblehead, a piggy bank, a clownfish, a race car, a wizard, a boomerang, and a dragon are just some of the lucky yet somewhat less than appreciative recipients of these whimsical creations. "I thought my friends would like their gifts--they didn't seem to care!" our young hero briefly laments before realizing that "If underpants are optional, then I don't need a pair." Is that why the original gift was only six pairs instead of seven? No one will be able to look at the final illustration--of the bare-bottomed young narrator--without at least cracking...a smile. Depicting bulging-eyed people and animals, many hilariously perturbed at their new skivvies, the watercolor, ink, and pencil illustrations will delight readers, as will the rhyming text. This one is ideal for reluctant listeners and readers, lovers of bathroom humor, and those in need of a seriously strong chuckle. The child and their family members are brown-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Sure to have kids beside themselves with glee. (Picture book. 4-8)

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April 1, 2023
Grades K-3 When a child's mom surprises them with a gift of underwear, they want to share with their friends. Soon, they set to work crafting pairs of underwear for not only their sister but for ants, pirates, pythons, bobblehead dolls, tortoises, racecars, wizards, boomerangs, astronauts, skeletons, cowboys, and zombies, before finally abandoning the project and bouncing bare-cheeked on their bed. The rhyme scheme has a lovely, lilting, Seussian speakability that will lend itself well to read-alouds in libraries and classrooms. Every page has its chuckle-worthy underwear-themed pun or punchline ready, and there are terrific Easter eggs from this creative duo's previous collaboration, Does a Bulldozer Have a Butt? (2022), hidden in the illustrations, from guest appearances by the older sister and father to a cameo from the three-butt-cheeked alien. The humor in both the rhyming couplets and the watercolorand-ink drawings is layered and delicious. This is both a delightful stand-alone and a strong companion piece to its predecessor.

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