Pete is trying to understand who and what he is. He is grey. He is not wearing pants. He must be a boulder! But being a boulder turns out to be quite boring so Pete changes his mind. He is grey. He is NUTS about acorns. He is not wearing pants. He must be a squirrel!
And so the story carries on. Pete uses his terrific toddler logic to theorise what he might be as he searches for someone to finish his knock knock jokes (boulders by the way, are terrible at finishing knock knock jokes) and someone to play hide and seek with.
Told mostly through speech bubbles from the wonderful array of grey characters, with a few words of narration to direct the flow of the tale, readers as young as three will love interacting with this story and pointing out that Pete is in fact an Elephant, despite his best guesses.
The illustrations are light and airy, with beautiful soft pastel colours, immense detail that calls for several re-readings, and a little bird to find on almost every page. The expressions on Pete's mother's face cuts right to the centre of parenting, capturing the mixture of exasperation, heart break and joy that are all part of the great experience of raising a toddler.
Title: Pete With No Pants
Author/Illustrator: Rowboat Watkins
Publisher: Chronicle Books, $29.99
Publication Date: 20 March 2017
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781452144016
For ages: 3+
Type: Picture Book
