We wear pants by Katie Abey
Bloomsbury, 2018. ISBN 9781408893609
(Age: 2-6) Recommended. Themes: Clothing. Humour. Katie Abey's We
wear pants is an enjoyable and colourful picture book showing a
broad range of animals wearing an interesting array of people
clothes and shoes. Across a double-page spread we are first invited
to view quirky animals wearing a range of pants: giraffe's neck is
festooned with 'pant-tastic' undies, crocodile's looking snappy in
his nappy, while blue monkey dances in his tartan pants! With speech
bubbles filled with questions and comments, text placed up, down and
around the quirky carton animals, this is humorous book to explore.
While Aussie kids will question the use of wellies, they'll soon see
splashing elephants, a narwhal with a gum boot on its horn, even an
octopus wearing eight wellies having a lot of fun. There is one
character who chooses to remain an individual throughout, yellow
monkey wears something different each time. Abey encourages the
reader to find the biggest hat, the tiniest fish and check out the
range of diverse hats for different seasons. Colourful coats are fun
to wear on the bus, in the rain or sharing a bench with friends. The
fun continues with animals wearing shoes, socks, scarves, t-shirts,
glasses and pyjamas.
Abey's cartoon animal characters are engaging, follow the characters
throughout and observe their antics, especially the cheeky monkey.
Share with a young child, discussing the questions, the silly
situations and crazy ways these animals wear human clothing. Finally
check out their fashion styles when they all get dressed, there's a
fire-fighter alligator, a giraffe in multi-coloured scarves and a
prancing pony in jeans and a red shirt. We wear pants is
entertaining, use Abey's style to create new pictures of animals
dressed as humans.
Rhyllis Bignell