When a tattered but loved pair of underwear finally falls apart, Monster must brave Undie World to find a new pair.The search is harder than it might seem: "PUT. DOWN. THOSE. UNDIES. / THOSE. AREN'T. THE. ONES. / Those undies aren't worthy / of dressing these buns!" From the designs on the underwear to their style, cut, and feel, none fit the bill, er, butt. But then Monster, high atop a pile of discards, a single pair askew on one of his horns, spies the perfect pair. "The moment I saw them, / my tush fell in love!" He concludes the shopping trip by posing, walking, dancing, and taking a stance in the new underwear. Oddly, as there's been no hint before this of a filmed performance, Berger ends this rollicking, giggle-inducing romp with a spread of Monster taking a bow, other monsters applauding around a clapperboard: "And…SCENE." Carpenter uses just three colors in his illustrations, and lime-green Monster stands out amid all the other, blue, nonscary monsters, especially when sporting his red-and-white tighty whities, his expressions wonderfully readable. Strangely, though Monster realizes that going underwear-less is "just a little bit c-c-cold. / …And a little exposed / …and A LOT to behold" (Monster shivers behind the leaf of a potted plant), he goes shopping with not a stitch on. No anatomy is shown; Monster's gender is cued by underwear style. If only every underwear shopping trip ended in such satisfaction. (Picture book. 3-7)

Monster may be tiny, but he has one massive problem: his beloved briefs have fallen apart. Undie-less, the portly green poof ball and his mom must brave Undie World, "a whole store devoted to just the behind!" But Undie World's vast pattern selection asting shooting stars and racing cars, tiny whales and sailboat sails d myriad cuts ("too long! . . . too short! These look like a diaper! These look like a skort!") quickly discourage no-nonsense Monster. Sulking atop a huge heap of rejected briefs, Monster fears there may be "nothing / to package my trunk" til he catches sight of one flawless final pair. While Carpenter's doe-eyed figures, thick black lines, and textured backdrops are as eye-catching as they are expressive, his strict five-color palette (white, black, red, cobalt, chartreuse) wonderfully reinforces Monster's own yen for straightforward simplicity. Berger's (Boo-La-La Witch Spa, 2015) uproarious rhymes, sprinkled with ballooned asides and emphatic capital letters, demand to be read aloud d the refreshingly androgynous Monster adds further appeal to this already irresistible tale. Sheer monstrous fun.