Still Stuck

It’s bath time, and Yoshitake’s tiny protagonist insists that he can undress himself. Bad move: his yellow shirt gets stuck on his head and traps his arms against his ears, leaving him looking like a pudgy buttercup with an exposed belly and feet. Rather than rail against his fate, however, the boy contemplates how his life might unfold with this shirt-trapped state as his new normal: “I was sure lots of important people had been stuck before,” he says as Yoshitake pictures him on a dais in front of an adoring crowd, flanked by security guards and important-looking head-of-state types. “So I decided to stay that way forever! It wasn’t so bad,” the boy says, striking a triumphantly goofy pose on a mountaintop. But second thoughts soon kick in, and the boy’s efforts to untangle himself leave him with his pants twisted around his ankles; Mom intercedes at last, making short work of the problem, but a pajama-related wardrobe malfunction isn’t far off. With its poker-faced text and effortlessly executed visual jokes, it’s the essence of kid comedy—and almost certain to inspire some real-life disrobing shenanigans. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)