The Terrible Underpants
Kindergarten-Grade 2-Wanda-Linda has a predicament-no clean underwear! At her mother's insistence she puts on a dingy, worn-out, baggy, patched, and juice-stained pair under her dress and heads off with her pet wombat to school. In an every-child's-nightmare series of situations, the wind, a stint on the monkey bars, a leap over the sprinkler, and a handstand conspire to reveal the tattered undies to neighbors, schoolmates, family, and even the world. In the too-abrupt ending, she simply takes off the offending garment and hangs it from a tree branch as she sips tea with her wombat. The blocky, cartoon illustrations feature bold contrasting colors in an edgy, minimalist, almost childlike style. Although the book has a child's-eye perspective throughout (her parents are seen only as legs or arms heading out of or into the pictures), Wanda-Linda's verbal responses occasionally display an adult's dry sophistication that seems out of place in the story. An author's note cautions that wombats are not really pets but wild animals, and suggests conservation organizations for kids to contact. While the story has some funny moments, kids may feel more embarrassed for than humored by Wanda-Linda's overall (or underall) dilemma. Undies aficionados may want to stick with Todd Parr's Underwear Do's and Don'ts (2000), Marc Brown's Arthur's Underwear (1999, both Little, Brown), or Mary Monsell's Underwear! (Albert Whitman, 1988).Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha's Public Library, WICopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.