You Can't Top Perfect! Green Pants by Kenneth Kraegel

Jameson only ever wore green pants.

His closet reveals pairs and pairs of identical green pants on the hangers.  When his mom occasionally tries to replace them with pants in other colors, he discreetly disposes of the replacements. He has a reason.

When he wore green pants, he could do anything.

In his green pants Jameson surprises and amazes his friends with his leaping dunks of the basketball. He performs perfect somersaults and breaks the water flawless when he dives. And when he powers up his boombox, his dancing is delightful. All done with Green Pants Power.

But one day Jameson's favorite cousin Amanda introduces him to bride-to-be Jo.

Jo had the nicest smile Jameson had ever seen.

She asks him if he would like to be in her wedding. Jameson is delighted, although he knows nothing about weddings. His mother fills him in later. Weddings are quite the big deal, she says. There is a lot of standing still, she adds. He has to smile for every photograph and there will be lots and lots of them. And he has to use good manners at the wedding supper.

"No problem!" said Jameson.

"Jameson," said Mom, "the tuxedo is black!"

"BLACK PANTS? Are you sure?"

Jameson is pleased with the rest of the tuxedo--the shirt, jacket, shoes, and all. He really likes the way it looks with his green pants. He looks sharp!

But Mom reminds him that he absolutely has to wear the black pants for the wedding.

On the big day Jameson puts on his tuxedo, all but the black pants. He still hasn't decided whether he CAN wear the black pants. Still in his green pants, holding the black pants over his arm on the steps of the church, his mother leaves him.

"I know you will figure it out," she says.

Jo even comes to the door, her smile more beautiful than ever, her eyes bright with happiness.

"I'll see you inside, Jameson!" she says.

The pressure is on! How will Jameson manage to keep his green pants on while meeting the dress code of the wedding? Young readers will get a good giggle out of the BIG REVEAL, in Kenneth Kraegel's latest, Green Pants (Candlewick Press, 2017). Author Kraegel builds some genuine suspense as Jameson is left, still indecisive, at the church door, and artist Kraegel's charming illustrations plant some funny sight gags of Jameson's rejected pants--a red pair worn by a neighbor's dog and a blue pair woven into a bird's nest in a tree along the way, but the best double-page spread shows how Jameson manages to keep his green pants while fitting right in with the wedding party. "This quirky kid and his loving family will instantly endear themselves to readers," says Kirkus in their starred review.