Underpants Dance

by Marlena Zapf, Lynne Avril (Illustrator)

A charmingly irreverent look at a mischievous kid-fixation: underwear!
 
Underpants can be fancy or functional, but for pre-schoolers, it is always funny. Take Lily McBloom - she has the fancy kind and loves to show them off with a special dance to make everyone laugh. This horrifies her big sister who comes up with a plan to stop Lily's underpants dance forever. But Lily is one creative girl, and with a little outside-the-box thinking, she can keep right on dancing!  

For fans of Bear In Underwear and Ella Sarah Gets Dressed, this story celebrates the hilarity of kids' obsessions.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Family, Humor, Storytime, Realistic Fiction

40 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2014

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Lily McBloom celebrates her fabulous frilly pink underpants with a spectacular dance that sometimes goes a little under-appreciated.

[Ms.Gaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

My SLJ review: Lily McBloom has brand-new, pink, lacy underpants. She can't help but dance around to show them off, and she loves it when others laugh at her antics. However, big sister Marigold is not impressed, and she tells Lily that the Underpants Dance is no longer acceptable for a girl who is growing up. Deciding to investigate, Lily finds several examples of grown-ups dancing in their underpants, but Marigold discounts each case. When Lily is given plain pants to wear over her lovely underpants, she finds a way to overcome her disappointment. Lily is a cheerful and resourceful character who simply devises new plans to continue frolicking around in her underpants upon being thwarted. Avril, illustrator of recent "Amelia Bedelia" books, offers similar images for this title. Her gouache paint-on-paper technique, with black ink outlines, makes each figure colorful and expressive, with plenty of action on each spread. An appealing cover, a heavy emphasis on the color pink, and Lily's fun-loving attitude add up to a solid picture book purchase that will be popular. Ages 3-6

[Hannah Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyday millions of pretty underpants are completely hidden from the world. Sure we know we have frills and strawberries and unicorns on our underpants, but sometimes it isn't enough that we are the only ones who know*. Lily has awesome underpants and through hilarious antics, quirky illustrations and lots of dancing, she shares her underpants with the world. By the end of this book you will be saying "you go girl!"

*if you are adult and you know better keep your knickers to yourself!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is going to have children squealing in their seats when they hear it. Underpants are about the funniest thing kids can read about, and if there's someone reading to them who's not too afraid to get into the story, then this book is a winner. It would be great read aloud to ece and early elementary children.

[Kerrikoala · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute book, and I understand why parents don't want their kids to show off underpants. Honestly, though, if you buy a little girl an awesome pair of pink frilly underpants, OF COURSE she's going to want to show them off. Also it's not true that grown ups don't do an underpants dance. Maybe in public they don't, but it does happen.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the under-eight set, there's not much funnier stuff than underpants. I like that Lily is a girl "class clown" - she likes the giggles and attention she gets when doing her underpants dance. The solution may not be one that many grown-ups will like, but kids will think it works. Read this at the end of a storytime because it'll be hard to settle down after!

[Michelle Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily is 4, and she keeps wanting to show off her fancy underpants by doing a little dance that wins her lots of laughs. Her sister, Marigold, tells her that she is getting older and that she may no longer do this. What will Lily do? Cute story; I think young children will laugh and laugh when they hear it, beginning with the title!

[Demi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought Underpants Dance was incredibly cute--we have all seen that little girls have a tendency to show off their underpants, and Zapf can find the humor and charm in little Lily's embarrassing of her sister Marigold.

Underpants Dance is a lovely little story for any dancing child.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Underpants Dance! What a way to celebrate your fancy pants! Enjoy this book about appropriate and inappropriate underpants behavior and a child's unique problem solving abilities. Great for kids 3-5.

[Danika Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining story about a little girl who likes to dance and show off her lacy, frilly, lovely underpants. She is told by everyone, especially her older sister that this dance is not O.K, in fact it is embarrassing! Her solution is creative and comical.

[Marguarite Markley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh. So. Funny! Love the dialog between the sisters...it's true to life and hysterical.

[Michelle Nero · Rating 4 out of 5]

My four year olds giggled all the way through this book. Apparently they could relate!

[Mary Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute story!

[Nita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olivia loves this book! Super fun!

[Bookjeannnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book!!

[Maeghan Nutmeg Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute!

[Bambi Pea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is AWESOME. Who doesn't love a great book about underpants!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lilly is 4 and just got the fanciest underpants ever. She loves them and dances her special underpants dance everywhere she goes just to show them off. Her big sister, Marigold, is not nearly as thrilled with the new underpants and insists that Lilly is to big to show off her underwear. The text is on the long side for preschoolers, but the illustrations are nice. This would not be my first choice for story time, it would definitely work better with an elementary school crowd.

[Jodee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book and I think a lot of people can relate.

[Chinook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kait and Maddie love running around in just their undies so this story was a big fab while we had it out from the library.

[Katherine Decker · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one made us giggle.

[Laura Giessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute twist at the end, but not a huge fan of sharing with kids a book about a little girl obsessed with showing her underpants.

[Stephanie Fujii · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not a fan. I didn't like Marigold. I wanted to kick her in the shin. I guess the ending was good, but overall, I didn't like the negative vibe of this book. I guess this is for parents to read to their kids who may be future flashers to teach them not to show their panties in public. But, I think I'll just discuss this with Amaya if it ever becomes an issue (like yesterday, at Target, when she pulled her entire dress off her head...) But, I think it doesn't have to be so negative. Poo poo on you, Marigold. Haters gonna hate, Lily.

Also....what toddler is rocking lace undies???

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lily loves her new underpants and looks for any excuse to show them off using fancy dance moves. Her joy is her family's embarrassment though so they attempt to teach her how big girls wear their panties so to speak.

Lily gets the last laugh though as she figures out a way around the rules in her one-of-a-kind style.

Gouache and ink illustrations. Funny read aloud with a clever ending for PreK-2.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but lacks substance. As a parent, I think it would have been nice to have a little something included about why underpants dancing in public is not appropriate ("it's not nice!" isn't enough)and where you CAN underpants dance. Ages 3-6.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will be everyone a case of the giggles and cheshire cat smile face!
Anyone who has ever enjoyed their underpants will enjoy this story. C'mon when was the last time underpants made you smile?!

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

If your kiddo loves underpants, dancing, being silly and laughing... then this is the read for you! While this book made me smile and giggle as I was reading it, I do not have any current plans to read it during story time.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The joy of undies.

[Thia]

kind of long but it's underpants