The Underpants

In a riotous picture book, Sauer (No Bunnies Here!) tips a hat to Jan Brett’s The Mitten and the Ukrainian folktale that inspired it, while illustrator Cull contributes pictures that employ the flat, bright vibe of Cartoon Network settings. Discovering freshly laundered underpants belonging to a pink-skinned farmer, yellow and orange Kitty, who sports a blue hairbow, suggests that they’re not underpants at all. Slipping her paws through the leg openings (“I love this cozy coat”), she saunters into the barnyard, setting the story’s irresistible pattern into motion. One by one, initially skeptical onlookers (“What are you doing in those underpants?” each says), are met with an unshakable, infectious conviction (“It’s a coat”). This invariably leads to enthusiastic conversion (Pig imagines itself wearing the underpants on the cover of “Pig Fashion” magazine), followed by a request to join the bandwagon—an increasingly “tighty-whitie” fit. Animals strain and squeeze into the undies, forming a multi-headed, rolling ball, until Cow’s sneeze (“AH-MOO-CHOOOOO!”) sends everyone flying. “What a way to end the day,” observes the narrator, but the participants seem deeply satisfied by this unadulterated silliness—and readers should be, too. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. (Oct.)