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."

Guess Who's Getting Spiffy? Clothesline Clues to the First Day of School by Kathryn Heling and Deborah Hembrook

High on the clothesline
hang clue after clue,

It's the first day of school...

Who's waiting there for you? Listen to the cues!

From whose clothesline would a yellow vest and gloves and octagonal STOP sign be hanging?
This one's not so hard. It's the Crossing Guard!

How about someone with ...

Mop, soap, and a big key ring? Who takes care of everything?... the custodian!

Whose clothesline has a fresh apron and an oven mitt? All you need is one look... it's the cafeteria cook!

You can guess this one with ease! On the line, in the breeze, are shorts, tee shirt, socks and sneakers. Waiting with a basketballs and a big shiny floor? Guess no more... it's the the gym teacher!

Smocks and aprons? Easel and color chart? You're smart. It's got to be... the teacher of art!

And on many clotheslines... there are clues.

Pants, shirts, and dresses,
In every size and hue,
Coats, scarves, and backpacks...

Who's getting spiffied up for school along with you?

It's your new teacher and classmates, in Kathryn Heling's and Deborah Hembrook's Clothesline Clues to the First Day of School (Charlesbridge, 2019). Clothes may not make the man, but this engaging first-day-of school picture book helps youngsters recognize all the very real people who make a building a school. Young readers will have fun identifying the various school workers, right down to their own teacher's blue bow tie from the clothesline clues, illustrated cheerily by artist Andy Robert Davies.

It still takes a village. A school does need a community to do its job and with bouncy rhyming text and comforting images for young people facing the beginning of school, this one is a great read-aloud for parents and teachers to ease the first-day transition to a school full of people. Says School Library Journal, "Whether readers are entering school for the first time or are old pros, all will enjoy the guessing game and overall message of this lovely story."

Other books by this team are Clothesline Clues to Jobs People Do and Clothesline Clues to Sports People Play..

The Things We Do for Love! LAWRENCE: The Bunny Who Wanted To Be Naked by Vern Kousky

Mrs. Rabbit is no clotheshorse herself. She just loves to dress up her cute little bunny. She favors outlandish styles and bold and bright hues and patterns.

Bunny Lawrence? Not so much.
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And if there's the slightest chill in the air, his mom dresses him in a hand-knitted snowsuit with a couple of scarves and four stacking stocking caps--with pom poms on top. Geez!

But Lawrence only wants to hop naked through the fields.

Lawrence asks why not dare to be bare?

"You are not every bunny. You are my one and only sweet little love bunny." his mother replies.

Lawrence gets it that the "special" outfits are his mother's way of showing that he is loved. But still, he doesn't love going about in hats that look borrowed from a medieval jester, clashing billboard colors and patterns, and too-tight yoga pants.

At last Lawrence smiles--and not a sweet-little love-bunny smile.

Turn-about is fair play, and Lawrence works all night to surprise his mother with a custom-made outfit printed with ginormous shapes and trimmed with fuzzy red fringe. There's even a three-pointed jester's hat in matching fabric. Mrs. Rabbit dutifully dons the get-up and wears it on her daily rounds, but she can't wait to get home and shed her goofy get-up for her everyday fur.

But an equally silly Valentine's Day and Mothers' Day dress follows. And her Yuletide outfit makes her look like a walking Christmas tree!Finally Mrs. Rabbit gets the message.

And then Mrs. Rabbit gets a great idea. To show her fondness for her love bunny, she fashions exotic kites from all the gaudy gowns and outrageous outfits for her and Lawrence to fly together, and both of them dare to be bare and do it wearing only their furry birthday suits, in Vern Kousky's latest giggler, Lawrence: The Bunny Who Wanted to Be Naked (Schwartz and Wade, 2020). Moms who love to dress up their beloved tots will possibly get a clue from Lawrence, and kids who like to turn the tables on their parents will find this one a satisfyingly silly story. But, warns Booklist, "Be prepared for streaking toddlers!"

To Blend Or Not To Blend: Matchy Matchy by Erin McGill

MY NAME IS MARIA, BUT YOU MIGHT AS WELL CALL ME MATCHY MATCHY.

Maria's mother has a mania for matching. Maria's socks  match her shoes, which match her headband, which matches her dress, which even matches her chair!

EVEN MY UNDERWEAR MATCHES.

Maria has had it with blending in with the furniture. Not to mention the walls. She designs her manifesto.

She transforms herself into a one-girl protest march-with signs.

MARIA'S MATCHLESS MARCH!

JOIN THE MOVEMENT.

SAY NO

TO

SWEATER SETS!

But Mom has her own manifesto--decreeing pink and red for everything on Valentine's Day, commanding holiday sweaters for every season, and coordinated accessories for everything.

Maria fights back with her own merry mixes--foofy, feathery, stripey, mixed animal prints, with checks and plaids.

But, in Erin McGill's stylish latest, Matchy Matchy (Cameron Books, 2019), there comes a time to call a truce in the pattern wars, as Mom makes a cameo appearance in a dizzy combo of polka dots and petunias and the two agree to disagree in the "I Gotta Be Me" conclusion. A fun book for mothers and daughters to laugh together with, along with a little lesson on compromise.

Dressing Up? What Riley Wore by Elana K. Arnold

Riley is a free-form dresser.

On Monday, Riley wore a bunny costume because it was the first day of school and Riley felt shy.

Riley is the only kid in a bunny suit there, but one girl stopped crying when Riley let her rub the bunny ears.

On Tuesday Riley wears a superhero cape to the sometimes daunting dentist's office.

Wednesday finds Riley and grandparents going to a fancy restaurant, where Riley wears a ball gown.

Thursday was Space Day...

Riley decided outer-space jammies were the perfect thing to wear.

On a rainy Friday Riley put together red rubber boots, a police jacket, and a pink tutu.

A sixth-grade crossing guard says...

I like your tutu!

And when Saturday rolls around, Riley wears overalls and a yellow hard hat to help Dad. The hardware store guy gives Riley a really cool sticker, and it goes right into a pocket to keep for just the right friend.

And on Sunday, Riley's ensemble look like a veritable closet explosion--mismatched socks, purple jeans under a tutu, red fireman's boots, a monster shirt, and spiky dino helmet, and she finds a friend to give the special sticker to.

You know, some days you just feel being more than one thing. Firefighters are good, and dancers are cool, and monster dinos are the bomb!

Riley is a kid who can't be stereotyped, for sure, in Elana K. Arnold's latest, What Riley Wore (Beach Lane Books, 2019). In this story of a kid who dresses to a different drummer each day, youngsters who like the make a fashion statement will find a kindred soul, and those who dress to avoid notice will get a bit of encouragement to try a change in persona. Artist Linda Davik's simple and bright digital illustrations (with the look of paper collage) make good use of perspective shifts to show the various settings while keeping adventurous Riley in the center of the action.

As Publishers Weekly wisely points out, "... the creators take this timely subject matter into a refreshing realm: normalcy."

STYLIN'! Dress Like A Girl by Patricia Toht

What to wear?

Should you care? Some say so.

There are strict rules that must be addressed,
Rules you will need when looking your best.

But there are choices. White is right for cool summer frocks, a lacy wedding gown, a doctor's crisp lab coat, or an astronaut's pressure suit.

Black is best for formal occasions, but knit caps and furs are for snowy seasons.

Game day calls for school colors for sure, but sleek swimwear is best when you dive the seafloor.

Express your true self, for there's only one you.
Can't find what you like? Then design something new.

Clothes make the woman, and there're plenty of ways to Dress Like a Girl (Harper, 2019), according to Patricia Toht in her new fun fashion guide for girls. Using a girl's sleepover as her scene, artist Lorian Tu-Dean has her little fashionistas try out out all sorts of uniforms, costumes, and self-designed stylings, in this jolly commentary on femme fashion in the twenty-first century. Author Toht's rhyming guidebook gives a nod to the rules, while counseling girls that the secret is "doing it your own way." Says Publishers Weekly, "Tu-Dean captures the joy of dressing up, friendship, and discovery in her mixed-media art."

Stench Sleuth! Something Smells! by Blake Liliane Hellman

Early one morning, Elliot woke up to a most troublesome smell.

He suspects a skunk outside, but when he opens his window, there's just crisp, post-Halloween autumn air out there.

His sheets smell fresh and clean. His hamster Mr. Jiggles doesn't smell. A banana peel he'd left on his floor has no odor either.

It was time to move on to the usual suspects. Dad has just showered and smells like shaving cream. In the kitchen Mom is making breakfast, and his sometimes stinky dog Digsy happily smells like bacon! Elliot's breakfast smells like always, but his mom is a bit cranky.

"Not one more day in that costume, Elliot!" she grumped.

But Elliot is too busy sleuthing out the mystery smell. And besides, he loves his costume.

It was his best costume EVER! It glowed in the dark and was an exact replica of his skeleton!"

Elliot tries the trash can, but it is empty except for some cast-off Halloween candy. He checks the attic and the cellar. Nothing smells there. He's saved the most likely offenders for last. He surreptitiously tries to get a whiff of his baby sister Lilac's diaper, but all he smells is the maple syrup on her pancake. But Grandma is stirring something suspect on the stove....

Grandma's famous Gefarzenschnerffen!

Nope! He can't blame the Gefarzenscherffen either! But the stink is as strong as ever. Maybe worse!

Mom interrupts his investigation again.

"Not ONE more second in that costume, young man!" she said

By now smart readers will be guessing exactly where That Smell is coming from, and Elliot and his skeleton costume are set to hit the suds immediately, in Blake Liliane Hellman's brand-new funny family story, Something Smells! (Atheneum Books, 2018). Hellman provides the hints to close readers, and artist Steven Henry plants clues around the house that Halloween is far enough in the past that Elliot's costume has grown a bit overripe as well. And when good hygiene is restored, Elliot pulls on his new monster PJs. They smelled good and felt good and ...

He was never going to take them off!

Says School Library Journal, "A winning read-aloud selection perfect for storytime and one-on-one sharing."

Style-setting: The Hueys: The New Sweater by Oliver Jeffers

“The thing about the Hueys... was that they were all the same.”

In fact, the Hueys are minimalists. Egg-shaped oval bodies with stick legs and arms sprouting therefrom, the best that can be said about them is that there is no need for beauty queen competitions among them. Sartorially, there's no difference either. Basically, they are, er, naked ovals. And they like it that way.

But there's always one in every crowd, and Rupert decides that he's going to be different. He knits himself a bright orange sweater and suddenly--he's different, VERY DIFFERENT!

At first everyone is shocked, SHOCKED! He looks weird. He doesn't belong. He stands out in a crowd. Horrors!

Doesn't he know that the THING about the Hueys was that they were all the same?"

But then, Gillespie gets the urge to be different and knits himself an identical orange sweater. Hmmm. These two do have a certain something, a certain savoir faire. Maybe there's something to this being different thing.

Suddenly, all the Hueys have orange sweaters! Everyone struts about, proud that they, too, are different. Trouble is, they are all different in the same way!

Rupert realizes that he's lost his edge among a sea of orange-sweatered Hueys. What does a guy
have to do to be different among a crowd of copycats?

Then Rupert decided he liked the idea of wearing a hat.

And that changed everything...

Kids will jump in to speculate what happens next  with the copy-cat Hueys, with one surprise still in store! In a minimalist parable of human style-setting, Oliver Jeffers explores the foibles of following fashion, as his little eggheads, like 'tweeners, all dress alike to be different, in his The Hueys:The New Sweater (Philomel, 2012). Jeffers, whose spare penciled drawings added panache to his recent hit, Stuck, (see my review here)  makes use of smart, savvy text and even more minimal line drawings in this wry, sophisticated little tale.

Dressing Up Is Hard To Do: Zoe Gets Ready by Bethanie Deeney Murguia

ON SCHOOL DAYS, SOCCER DAYS, AND RAINY DAYS, SOMEONE ELSE ALWAYS CHOOSES WHAT ZOE WILL WEAR.

But it's Saturday and the possibilities are endless.

Zoe knows that the clothes make the day.

But what kind of day will it be? If it's a spinning-till-she's-as-light-as-a-feather day, the full purple circle skirt will be perfect. But if it's a cartwheel sort of a day, Zoe will need to wear her pink polka-dot leotard and tights. Hmmmmmm!

Mama calls impatiently from downstairs.

"ZOE! COME ON!"

"ALMOST READY, MAMA!" CALLS ZOE.

But Zoe's mind is already spinning and cartwheeling away. The skirt and the tights drop to the floor as she imagines other possibilities. If it's a collecting day, she'll need something with lots and lots of pockets. But if it's a hide-and-seek sort of day, her green outfit and a flowery headband will help her blend in with the outdoor scene. On the other hand... does she want to meld with the background or does she want to make a statement--in a ruffly, shrimp-colored skirt and a lo-o-ong trailing scarf....?

"ZOEEEEEE! NOW!"

Getting dressed is hard to do in Bethanie Murguia's brand-new Zoe Gets Ready (Scholastic, 2012). Parents who are veterans of the wardrobe wars will laugh ruefully and groan inwardly as the rejected outfits pile up on the floor, but little girls will understand Zoe's dilemma perfectly as her glance falls on those gauzy fairy wings still hanging on her closet door. What if it's a fly-in-the-sky day? A girl needs to be prepared for anything, and there's only one thing to do....

Can she wear it all?

The Clothes Make the Dog: Zorro Gets An Outfit by Carter Goodrich

THE DAY BEGAN LIKE ANY OTHER FOR ZORRO AND MR. BUD. THEY HAD THEIR BISCUITS AND WERE READY FOR THEIR WALK.

BUT THERE WAS A DELAY.

"ZORRO, WE HAVE GOT A SURPRISE FOR YOU! YOU HAVE YOUR VERY OWN OUTFIT!"

His very own outfit is something no dog ever wants.

Little Zorro is not exactly a swashbuckling figure in that midnight blue cloak and cowl. And he knows it.

Unfortunately the other neighborhood dogs get the ironic humor in his costume, too.

"HEY, WONDER DOG!" EDDIE AND THE BOYS LAUGH. "FLY AROUND!"

Mr. Bud tries to distract poor Zorro with their daily chase of Slim, the pesky local cat, but this pug is too discomfited to even look at Slim, who yowls in derision at Zorro's costume from atop his trash can.

Chewing sticks and chasing in the park have no appeal, either.

Zorro is the victim of peer pressure. Portly pugs in caped costumes just aren't cool.

But then a dashing, flashing new figure appears on the scene. He's the fastest thing on four legs! He's a fearless Frisbee catcher! The other mutts in the dog park are agog as the dynamic Dart dashes across the green. This newcomer is definitely a top dog if there ever was one. And. . . he is wearing an outfit!

Nattily attired in a oh-so-French striped sailor's shirt and sassy bandanna, Dart is definitely a style-setter. And as all the dogs look on, jaws dropped in amazed silence, his gaze falls on Zorro.

"HEY! COOL OUTFIT! LET'S RACE!"

Any kid who has ever had to go out in public in uncool clothes their mother made them wear knows exactly how little Zorro feels in Carter Goodrich's just-published Zorro Gets an Outfit (Simon & Schuster, 2012). As in his hilarious first book, Say Hello to Zorro! (see my review here) Goodrich's simple but telling text and the hyper-expressive facial expressions and body language of his two dog buddies tell the tale. Set off in a carefully chosen palette and eye-catching line against bright white backgrounds, Goodrich's appealing illustrations make this one a ready read-aloud or an accessible self-reader for the early grades. Costumed in a cape or just himself, Zorro is definitely the dog of the day.

Restyling & Recyling: I Had a Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn

I HAD A FAVORITE DRESS THAT WAS MY FAVORITEST DRESS EVER.

I WORE IT ON TUESDAY, WHICH WAS MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR.

That dress is a dream, the color of peach ice cream, with a striped bodice and graceful long sleeves and a fluffy skirt like a tutu. Our girl twirls through her Tuesdays in her favorite dress.

But tempus fugit, and then one Tuesday she realizes that the dress has just become too short. Even mama says so. But Mama is a proactive optimist. Muttering something about making mountains out of molehills, she knows just how to recycle that outgrown dress and give it a new life.

SNIP, SNIP, SEW, SEW!

NEW SHIRT, "HELLO!"

Our girl welcomes Wednesday as her new favorite day, when she first wears her new shirt, her new favorite shirt, to school.

But little girls grow and soon the sleeves are too short and too tight. Mama snips and sews some more and turns the shirt into a tank top, just in time for warm weather temperatures, and it's the choice of the day for summer Thursdays.

But, "no tank tops" is the rule at school, and Mama avoids a back-to-school tempest when, snip, snip, sew, sew, she turns the frilly bottom of the outgrown top into a trendy tutu-type skirt, the new favorite skirt for Fridays. Then, in manner of fashion, Maggie Dean, the class style queen, declares skirts are out. Ever-creative, Mama crafts the fluffy skirt into a tasselled, trendy scarf, and when that scarf gets caught in a door, she snips and sews the remnants into ruffled socks---and when one sock is lost, the remaining one is once more refurbished by the resourceful seamstress:

IT'S VERY CLEAR THERE'S NOT MUCH LEFT OF YOUR DEAR DEPARTED DRESS!
SNIP, SNIP! SEW, SEW! PRETTY HAIRBOW, HELLO!

The favorite dress finds immortality as a hair accessory, until, alas, a puppy chews it to fragments. Couture catastrophe?

No, our girl has by now learned a trick or two from Mama, and she knows how to turn her own mountains into molehills. She recycles the remains of her beloved dress into a collage portrait of--herself, wearing that memorable dress.

Boni Ashburn's I Had a Favorite Dress (Abrams, 2011) has earned rousing reviews for its clever story line, its catchy internal rhymes, its design in which various fonts and layouts turn the text into an integral part of the art, and Julia Denos' delicately colored illustrations themselves. "Denos's multimedia illustrations, a combination of collages, watercolors, and graphite and colored pencil artwork, reinforce the narrator's vibrant personality and the amazing transformations of the dress while capturing the action and emotion of the story," says School Library Journal.

But these professional reviewers seem to have short literary memories, missing the real tour de force here on author Ashborn's part. Her story is itself a makeover of the jolly, die-cut retelling of the old Yiddish folksong brought to us in the Caldecott-winning Sims Taback's Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, which was itself a refurbishing of the earlier and equally delightful version of this famous story, aptly titled Something From Nothing , by Phoebe Gilman. Beneath their differing artistic media trappings and settings, three authors have taken the same story fabric and crafted three wonderful restylings of the same theme, that through art it is possible to fashion enduring memories for the future--a picture, a song, or the very story itself! These are great stories to put together for those compare-and-contrast literary lessons, but also for the deep-rooted life lessons that they pass on to young readers.

Enter the Anti-Nancy: Too Purpley! by Jean Reidy

TOO ITCHY! TOO SCRATCHY!

TOO STITCHY! TOO MATCHY!

Some mornings, no matter what the wardrobe has to offer, nothing will work. In Jean Reidy's new schoolday dressing saga, Too Purpley! (Bloomsbury, 2010), our young anti-fashionista finds fault with every outfit her mother offers. Everything in her closet is TOO something. Dotty, zippery, stripey, flowery--nothing feels or looks just right. The power of an all-wrong outfit even transforms her walls and toys into everything about the faulty frock she rejects. The reader holds her breath until the final outfit finally makes the cut! Ah! Perfect! With her matching knapsack, our plain Jane is at last bouncing off to school on the that big yellow bus!

Genevieve Leloup's cartoon-style kindergartner's little round face registers all emotions as she goes through one ensemble after another proffered by her long-sufering mom. Kids and moms will both find a giggle at these over-the-top outfits and recognize the all-too-familiar dressing dilemma in this funny and insightful little story.

Get It On: Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems

There's so much to learn about the fascinating little creatures known as naked mole rats, but for this story, you only need to know three things:

1. They are a little bit rat.
2. They are a little bit mole.
3. They are all naked.Well, they WERE, with one exception...

My local zoo features a colony of mole rats, and believe me, what this critter lacks in charm it makes up in ugly! But that's no hindrance to three-time Caldecott author/illustrator Mo Willems, creator of the best-selling, award-winning Knuffle Bunny books. One look at his hero mole rat Wilbur on the cover, in pink birthday suit contemplating his whitey-tighties, khakis, snappy tie, and blue button-down ensemble, and you gotta know about that one exception....

As all those who march to a different drummer find out, being different gets you noticed. Wilbur causes quite a stir when he shows up fully dressed. "EEEEEUUUUUWWWW!" "Yuck," scream his colony mates! "What are you doing?"

Poor Wilbur is made to feel quite the pariah, even dragged up to view the state portrait of the Grand Pooh-Bah Mole Rat, known as Grand-Pah, posing heroically in all his venerable wrinkled nakedness. But when little Wilbur refuses to recant his sartorial obsession, he faces an irate mob:

"NAKED MOLE RATS DON'T WEAR CLOTHES!" they shout.

"Why not?" asked Wilbur.

This is serious. Wilbur is literally hauled off for an audience with The Grand-Pah himself, who gives it his full attention.

"Hmmm.... Ahhh..." he ruminates. "I shall make a proclamation!"

While the naked mole rats excitedly twitter about the coming proclamation, Wilbur has a more pressing problem: what to wear to the event. Cowboy duds? A super-hero cape and mask? A French beret, tee, and dark glasses? A more formal double-breasted blue blazer?

Then The Grand-Pah speaks.

"Why not indeed? Do clothes hurt anyone? No. Are they fun? Well, they might not be for everyone, but this old naked mole rat wishes he had tried getting dressed earlier."

With the naked mole rat world made safe for costume, Wilbur begins to live his dream, opening a mole rat haberdashery for the would-be sharp dressers out there in the tunnels.

For this story you only need to know three things:

1. Some of the mole rats were naked.
2. Some of the mole rats were clothed.
3. All of mole rats had a great time. No exceptions.

Mo Willems newest picture book, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, shares the unique artistic style and wry, understated humor of his noted Knuffle Bunny and Elephant and Piggie series. Kids will love this one from the engaging cover to the final page showing Wilbur, nattily attired, in his shop, with signage proclaiming "ALL SIZES," "GRAND-PAH APPROVED," and "WHY NOT?"