Dressing Down! Something's Wrong by Jory John
Bear wakes when the alarm clock rings and begins his morning routine. Bath? Check! Water plants? Check! Breakfast? Check! Comb fur? Check! Try on gift from Grandma? Check!
"HMMM! WHY DO I STILL FEEL LIKE I'M FORGETTING SOMETHING?"
"SOMETHING IS OFF!"
Actually it's what he has on! Everyone he meets along the way acts flustered and fidgety when they see him. They fumble for words and give him THE LOOK, but no one says anything!
But when he walks away, we find out why. Deer mutters to himself:
"WHY IS THAT BEAR WEARING UNDERWEAR?"
Deer stands frozen in the creek asking himself the same question. So does Raccoon, who falls flat out of his tree, and Fox, who is fairly flummoxed at the very sight of Bear. Finally Bear, befuddled, has to find out what it is about him that is causing their uneasiness.
"SOMETHING IS WRONG!"
"I NEED A TRUSTED FRIEND WHO WILL BE HONEST WITH ME!"
And Bear knows that that friend is Anders the Hare, who asks the unspoken question on everyone's mind.
"COULD IT BE THAT YOU LEFT THE HOUSE WEARING UNDERWEAR?"
"GULP!"
Bear looks down and sees that he's still wearing Grandma's gift, a pair of too brief whities, too "tighty" and already beginning to split down the backside. He's absolutely mortified, until good friend Anders takes a page from Tom Sawyer whitewashing his fence, to convince the others that they need a certain undergarment to join the in-group, in the New York Times' best-selling kids' humorist Jory John's latest comic tale, Something's Wrong!: A Bear, a Hare, and Some Underwear (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2021).
Author Jory John's attire advisory is ably assisted by the clever cartoon illustrations of Erin Kraan, whose final spread pictures all the forest animals, now nattily attired in their stylish whitie tighties. This newest picture book comedy imparts a bit of social wisdom and is guaranteed to deliver gallons of giggles for any group of early graders!
Quips Kirkus Reviews, "This underwear affair is wise, witty, and just brief enough.”
Labels: (Grades Preschool-3), Bears--Fiction, Embarrassment--Fiction, Friendship--Fiction, Hares--Fiction
posted by GTC at
12:30 AM
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21 comments
first published by Candlewick Press in 2008. Continued in 
(Walker, 2017), (read review 
(Candlewick Press, 2017), there are 36 full-color, removable Valentine's Day cards and special stickers, featuring scenes of this charming father-and-son duo from McBratney's and Jeram's books and capturing the droll humor and endearing affection of these classics, just right for giving Valentines on "Hop and Hug Day."
