ANTS IN MY PANTS
Jacob would much rather stick around the house in his pajamas and play with his toy train than go shopping with his mother. So he counters her attempts to roust him with a chronic case of the sillies. Asked to put on his trousers, the boy responds, "I can't. I have ants in my pants"—and in his mind's eye, he sees a picnic's worth of insects crawling up his legs. The imaginary menagerie occupying Jacob's wardrobe grows: there's a fox in his socks, a goat in his coat and even newts in his boots. The woman's initial chipperness is almost exhausted when she discovers a new snowfall outside, and wisely postpones shopping for a frolic with her son and his pretend partners in procrastination. Mould, a British sculptor making her debut in children's books, unfolds her battle of wills in a series of neatly rendered, slightly cartoonish watercolor and ink vignettes. Much of the book's charm resides in how natural the burgeoning population of clothes-loving animals look in Jacob's house. Ages 3-6. (Aug.)
