A quick study of the picture book written by Aaron
Reynolds and illustrated by Caldecott honor winner Peter Brown. This wonderful
little gem is published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
A short time ago, I posted a brief spiel about
turning your negatives into positives. Around the same time, I had attended a
writers’ group (of which I’ve been a member for years).
A fellow writer brought up the subject of a picture
book she wasn’t crazy about. She said it was too creepy, this book about creepy
green underwear. Imagine that––a picture book about underwear.
But the fact that they were creepy, that they
glowed, intrigued me. So of course, I read the first few pages on the Amazon “look
inside” feature. That’s what convinced me this was a book for my shelf. So I
bought a copy.
It just goes to show that one person’s nightmare is
another person’s dream. Anyway, I was a little leery I might not like the book
after the first few pages. After all, I do trust the judgment of my writing
friend. But then there’s that little warped part of me that she probably doesn’t
have. The side that thinks glow-in-the-dark underwear would be cool.
And they really are, when you think about it. At
least in the context of the book, where the little boy rabbit character is
afraid of the dark, and yet trying to act like a big boy. He thought the
underwear were awesome during broad daylight at the store. But he wasn’t so
crazy about them when they glowed in the dark of his room. A creepy, ghoulish
green glow. So he tries repeatedly to get rid of the underwear, but those
creepy things keep mysteriously coming back.
That was a cool aspect of the book, but that’s also what
I wasn’t sure about it. There is never an explanation as to how these underwear
traveled from place to place, but I can see where a little kid would definitely
believe it. I couldn’t help but wonder, did some crazy witch cast a spell on
them? Or were they underwear left behind from Chucky? How could they just come
back by themselves?
I really wanted an explanation to this. Not that I
wouldn’t buy into the cursed underwear or magic spells stuff. Of course I
would. I just wanted to know what gave these underwear the power to reappear every
time the boy got rid of them. They were purchased in a store, not a haunted old
castle. A store, so they were made by a manufacturer. So how did the
manufacturer make these underwear magical? (Yes, I know I’m over-thinking it,
but that’s me.)
Regardless, I’d still recommend the book to anyone
for the sheer enjoyment of the story. It’ll make you laugh if you’ve ever been
around a child a wee bit afraid of the dark, and yet one who, despite his fear,
wanted to act grown up. Maybe that was you, once upon a time.
The thing is, Jasper, the little rabbit, fails again
and again to get those creepy underwear out of his life, but he does finally manage
it. I’m not going to tell you how. You’ll just have to read the book. Trust
me––you’ll love it.
And then as the story goes, once the underwear are gone
and Jasper is comfortable back in his plain, white, boring underwear, he goes
to bed. In his dark, dark, bedroom. A bit too dark, he thinks. So now he wants
the “glowing” underwear back. But it’s too late.
His solution––he goes to the store and makes a major
purchase. Now he has oodles of green glowing nightlights all through his room,
and so he’s no longer afraid of what might be hiding in the dark. So this
little boy turned a negative, creepy underwear, into a positive––a cool night light.
The book runs a couple spreads longer than the standard
32-page picture book, but it’s mostly illustrations, and wonderful ones at that
(adorable expressions). My guesstimate is that it’s between 600 and 700 words.
Happy reading!
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