Little Freddie Two Pants (The Dog with Too Many Pants)

Any kid who’s experienced a case of the sillies when it’s time to get dressed will find a kindred spirit in Freddie, a white dog with brown ears and a pink tongue that hangs waggishly from his mouth. An unseen narrator written by Daywalt (The Wrong Book) playfully admonishes Freddie for engaging in a host of clothing-related antics, including donning trousers in the first place and simultaneously wearing multiple pairs (“Freddie! Now you’re wearing THREE pants. Three pants is too many pants, too!”), then engaging in similar shenanigans with other garments. Freddie’s accomplice is an equally silly purple monkey, who at one point steps into the same trousers as Freddie (“No, you cannot share the pants with the monkey”) and also allows itself to be donned like a hat (“Your underwear is not a hat. Neither is the monkey”). Cummins (Dalmartian) distills her drawings down to the two characters and their props, while rendering backdrops in an array of bright solid colors, making this as much a stage performance as it is a private goof between pals. What’s to be done with this pair of pants-wearers? Laugh with them, of course. Ages 3–7. Author’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (Feb.)