clothes | Red Reading Hub – Jillrbennett's Reviews of Children's Books

We Wear Pants
Katie Abey
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

No, this isn’t another story about pants, although that particular item of clothing is the subject of the first spread in this humorous offering. You’ll also see thereon a horse in pants watering plants , a giraffe wearing them – and not only on its rear end; and youngsters will delight in the invitation to search for ‘who is sitting on the toilet?’ Wouldn’t the octopus have pants with eight leg holes? one of my book sharers wanted to know.

Wellies come next and all manner of animals are sporting theirs, including a waterproof wombat and a funky frog that asks readers to ‘Count the rubber ducks’. Not so the cheeky monkey however; that particular creature pops up on every spread offering a sneak preview of which item of attire is coming next.

We Wear Hats invites children to choose a hat – a tricky operation but for me the crocodile won; and I think I’d go for the croc. as my favourite animal too, on account of the fact that he’s reading a book.

The weather is decidedly changeable on the coats spread so many different kinds are show-cased including blazers, anoraks, puffer jackets, macs and ponchos.

Snazzy shorts aplenty are shown off on the beach: “Shorts cover up your pants” announces the bird atop the palm tree, although those belonging to the tortoise close by appears to be serving an alternative purpose.

Glasses, scarves, socks, shoes, T-shirts – watch out for particularly groan-worthy puns here – and pyjamas are also featured and the book ends with a final free choice page asking “What will YOU wear today?” Now there’s a thought …
Entertaining, absorbing and most definitely giggle inducing (that’s adults as well as children); a great book for sharing and absolutely full of language development potential.

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Polar Bear’s Underwear
tupera tupera
Chronicle Books
I was reluctant to divest Polar Bear of those red underpants he sports on the cover of this corker of a book but without so doing, it was impossible to join in the ‘chuddies’ hunt and anyway, their glowing colour is part of the beguilement.
PB has a real problem for, not only is a vital item of his clothing missing, but he cannot remember the colour of the particular underwear he was supposedly wearing that day. Hmm – tricky one: it’s as well his trusty Mouse friend is on hand (or rather head)

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to help with the search.
Off they go together perusing all manner of pairs – striped ones – no they’re Zebra’s, foodie ones – oops no! Pig has those on; and it definitely can’t be those teeny tiny floral ones – of course not, they fit only Butterfly.

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Perhaps it’s those fetching pink ones – uh-oh! On second thoughts …

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But it cannot possibly be the spotty, ruffled ones, nor the topsy-turvy pair so PB, what about these …

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Foolish creature – how could you forget? It’s a good job there’s a song to finish the sorry saga.
Clever die cuts strategically placed, wonderfully imagined animals and undies, and great design, are the essence of this one. Get yours today at the lingerie department of your nearest bookseller.

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I Had a Favourite Hat
Boni Ashburn and Robyn Ng
Abrams Books
The girl narrator of this upbeat story is very fond of her flippy floppy summer hat and so is not willing to pay heed to her mother’s “ … so clearly a beach hat!” comment. She knows it can be much more and so it can. Indeed there seems to be no end to the possibilities. With a bit of imagination and a ‘little of this … and a little of that…’ said hat becomes fit for Hallowe’en, a winter concert, a birthday hat,

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a dressing up hat,

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a Valentine’s hat, an Easter bonnet and finally even, a scarecrow’s titfa.

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Until that is the wind whisks it up and away and our young narrator must begin all over again and use her creative skills on the new summer style – a peaked visor, courtesy of her friend, Maggie Jean.
Funky, joyful, mixed media illustrations and an exuberant manner of telling put across that vital message about the importance of creativity and the imagination and how they enable us to transcend limitations others may try to impose.

If you have a particular penchant for pants then you’ll be pleased to hear that Monsters Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort (previously reviewed), is now out from Simon & Schuster in paperback with a free audio reading by Bake Off’s Mel Giedroye via a scannable code inside the front cover.

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