Dressup Day! Fred Gets Dressed by Peter Brown

A chubby toddler, Fred is up early one weekend morning... and...

FRED IS NAKED.

HE ROMPS AROUND HIS BEDROOM AND JUMPS ON THE BED.

Fred admires his image in the mirror.

FRED MAY NEVER GET DRESSED!

The dog is up, and he and Fred crawl across the rug and out of Fred's room. Fred leads the way into his parents' closet, where the possibilities are intriguing.

Dad's clothes are boring, with browns predominating. They are hard to put on and do nothing for him. He looks on Mom's side of the closet. There's a lot of variety there--dresses, long and short, in many colors, shirts, some tight, some loose, some long, some short. And there are also skirts, dresses, and pants of all lengths and colors, plus scarves and necklaces and bows and headbands. Hmmmm!

IT MIGHT BE MORE FUN TO DRESS LIKE MOM.

It all fits pretty well. Fred selects a hot pink sleeveless shirt which comes down to his knees and some backless sandals with two-inch heels. He wobbles, but he manages to make it to Mom's dressing table.

HE THINKS ABOUT MOM'S DIFFERENT STYLES.

Sometimes she has big, poofy hair and sometimes it's straight. Sometimes it's over just one shoulder. Sometimes she has a topknot. Somedays she wears lots of bracelets and sometimes big earrings.

Fred brushes his hair and tries on a necklace and bracelet.

BUT WHAT ARE THESE THINGS FOR?

Fred makes a nice bright hot-pink swoosh on his cheek with Mom's lipstick, and he's done, just in time for him to greet his surprised parents.

Oh, what the heck! Mom and Dad smile and decide to make it DRESSUP DAY for the whole family!

Mom and Dad get into the act, with makeup for all, even the dog, who also shares some blush and the pink bow set with Dad, and Mom gets a pink mani to match Fred's pink pedi, in noted author-illustrator Peter Brown's latest, Fred Gets Dressed (Little, Brown and Company, 2021).

Although most such invasions into parents' closets and especially tot experimentations with mom's makeup tend to end with at least a bit of grownup grumpiness, this one ends with some jolly family fun that will have preschoolers in giggles, especially the closing page which reveal that Fred forgot to er, address dressing his bottom. Best-selling author-illustrator Peter Brown's newest is a charmer, an adorable fun read for parent and child. Says Publishers Weekly, "Brown draws the scene as a parent-child stand-off, an ominous beat that seems to suggest potential conflict. But a page turn reveals smiles and everyone—-down to the family dog—-getting into the dress-up game."