Pants Off First!

Author/Illustrator: Ruth Ohi
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2001
ISBN: 1-55041-667-7

ResourceLinks:

“A simple, rhythmic text together with joyful details in the illustrations will make this a lovely book to share with a very young child…The illustrations are filled with movement and captivating detail…The text is presented with 2 lines per page, one black and one red. This invites partner reading and younger children will enjoy chiming in. Children learning to read will find this little story fun to practise on. Another wonderful book from Ruth Ohi!”

Booklist:

“In this story from the Early Bird Boardbook series, a little boy’s mother takes him upstairs to undress for bed while she goes back downstairs to be with company. As the child takes off each piece of clothing, he puts it on one of his pets. Soon his kitten, puppy, bunnies, and hamsters are more or less dressed, but he has nothing on. As the guests prepare to depart, the boy startles his mother by appearing on the stairs to enlist her help with putting on his pajamas and tucking him into bed. Ohi’s appealing scenes of the warm family setting, the partially dressed animals, and the (tastefully depicted) undressed boy combine in a story told with humor that parents and children can share. Colorful washes brighten the well-defined line drawings in a boardbook that is visually more detailed than most, yet more attuned to the actual lives of toddlers. A charmer for parents as well as children.”

Publisher’s Weekly:

“In PANTS OFF FIRST! by Ruth Ohi, adorable pictures show a boy struggling to get undressed; he then puts his clothes on his pets and goes downstairs, exclaiming to his parents and their friends: “Ready now!”…”