POLAR BEAR'S UNDERWEAR

I honestly can’t believe none of our Children’s staff have reviewed this book yet. Its hilarity is the stuff of legends, and we’ve already shared it with as many storytime families and visiting classes as we possibly could. If you get enough kindergartners in a room while you continually utter the word “underwear” in complete deadpan, the walls might actually tremble from the force of their uproarious laughter.

The premise is simple: Polar Bear, having most embarrassingly misplaced his underwear (oops), searches through the book for the aforementioned garment with the help of his friend Mouse. Spreads featuring Polar Bear and Mouse carefully examining a single pair of brightly patterned underwear and commenting on why it may or may not belong to Polar Bear alternate with spreads of each pair’s true owner donning the piece.

Pretty soon the older kids start catching on, and then come the enthusiastic guesses. Who’s itty-bitty and might like flowers on their underwear? BUTTERFLY! Who loves mice? CAT! Who enjoys carrots? BUNNY! Yes, but why is the underwear upside down? Silence here, but the answer always cracks them up.

Polar Bear’s Underwear by Tupera Tupera, a pseudonym for creative duo Tatsuya Kameyama and Atsuko Nakagawa, is nothing less than a picture book masterpiece in my mind. It just so perfectly captures the (weird) interests and humor of its young target audience. As a caveat I will confess that in my own reading of the book I tend to skip the last page. I’m not sure whether being a Japanese import has any effect on this, but the little ditty at the end has never quite worked for me. Still, a stellar book and not to be missed!

Ages 4+