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Searching... Monmouth Public Library | BRIGHT | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
On a wild and windy day, around about the end of May ... DISASTER STRIKES! All the laundry blows away-socks and shirts, a woolly hat, and far-worse than all of that-Charlie's Superhero Underpants! Charlie sets off on the mission of his life. From the Serengeti to the mountains of Nepal, Charlie is fearlessly determined to find his favorite briefs. Pow! Bright illustrations with a graphic-novel feel bring this hilarious adventure to life. Sure to awaken the super-hero in every reader.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-When Charlie's scarlet underpants blow away with the rest of the laundry, he begins a whimsical, whirlwind world tour to find the precious garment that says "POW!" in front and "KERZAP!" "OOF!" and "SPLAT!" in back. Wildish's humorous illustrations capture the streets of Paris, the Serengeti plain, a Peruvian plateau, the waters of the Mississippi, and the mountains of Nepal, where a Yeti is found wearing Charlie's underwear. The boy negotiates a deal with the hairy beast, trading a woolen cap for the one item of clothing that makes him feel in charge. While Bright gets mileage out of the ever-popular superhero topic, his story is overly dependent on a clunky rhyme scheme and lacks character development. For titles that better explore the feelings of a small person struggling for some sense of power in the larger world, consider Caralyn Buehner's Superdog: The Heart of a Hero (HarperCollins, 2004), Udo Weigelt's Super Guinea Pig to the Rescue (Walker, 2007), or Viviane Schwarz's Timothy and the Strong Pajamas (Scholastic, 2008).-Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Relying on the innate humor of underwear rather than gross-out jokes, Bright's (The Bears in the Bed and the Great Big Storm) addition to the canon of underpants-themed books introduces a boy whose treasured skivvies blow off the clothesline one gusty day. Providing the bulk of the book's zip and humor, Wildish's (Mom and Dad Glue) cartoons follow Charlie across the globe in search of his scarlet superhero underpants ("They had POW! across the front,/ in giant letters, bold and black,/ With KERZAP! and OOF! and SPLAT!/ a little smaller on the back"). Along the way, he reclaims the rest of his family's missing laundry: a Parisian fox wears his sister's polka-dot socks, two llamas in Peru share his brother's pajamas, and an alligator lazing on the Mississippi River has Grandpa's hat. When the boy finally locates his underpants, readers turn the book sideways to take in the book's visual highlight: a vertical image of an enormous yeti wearing Charlie's relatively (and amusingly) diminutive undies. The silliness of the story line and spirited portrayals of the various animals will induce giggles. Ages 3-7. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Without his special undies, what's a young superhero to do? A windy day ("at the end of May") causes all the laundry to blow away! An international search ensues for the world-famous Charlie's powerful pants (which feature the message "POW!" blazoned across the front)undersea, in the air and even in outer space, all humorously depictedbut the super shorts remained undiscovered. So Charlie packs some sandwiches, soap, etc., and, after a press conference, undertakes the quest for the missing shorts. He goes around the world in a lot fewer than 80 days, ballooning through Paris, hiking the Serengeti, climbing in Peru and eventually finding his super undies on a snowy Nepalese hillsidebeing worn by a shaggy Yeti (in a priceless two-page spread that requires rotation for full appreciation). A handful of geography lessons is tucked into Bright's jauntily tripping verse, hilariously illustrated by Wildish, whose round-headed, dot-eyed hero exemplifies dauntlessness, even sans shorts. A winnerKERZAP! (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.