Charlie’s Superhero Underpants

Relying on the innate humor of underwear rather than gross-out jokes, Bright’s (The Bears in the Bed and the Great Big Storm) addition to the canon of underpants-themed books introduces a boy whose treasured skivvies blow off the clothesline one gusty day. Providing the bulk of the book’s zip and humor, Wildish’s (Mom and Dad Glue) cartoons follow Charlie across the globe in search of his scarlet superhero underpants (“They had POW! across the front,/ in giant letters, bold and black,/ With KERZAP! and OOF! and SPLAT!/ a little smaller on the back”). Along the way, he reclaims the rest of his family’s missing laundry: a Parisian fox wears his sister’s polka-dot socks, two llamas in Peru share his brother’s pajamas, and an alligator lazing on the Mississippi River has Grandpa’s hat. When the boy finally locates his underpants, readers turn the book sideways to take in the book’s visual highlight: a vertical image of an enormous yeti wearing Charlie’s relatively (and amusingly) diminutive undies. The silliness of the story line and spirited portrayals of the various animals will induce giggles. Ages 3–7. (May)