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Mr. Charlie by Chris Floersch Lulu
book review by Karolina Blaha-Black
"Oh Mr. Charlie was a silly bear. He liked to dance around in his underwear. Oh that Charlie how he liked to dance. When he wore those shoes and his underpants."
The rhyme above refers to a bear called Mr. Charlie, who steals campers' shoes and dances in them and in his underwear all night. He buries the shoes every night under the moon when he's tired of dancing, only to find them gone in the morning. This goes on for several nights until frustrated Mr. Charlie hides behind a large rock to watch what happens to the shoes. He finds out that a couple of chipmunks are digging up his shoes and trading them back to the campers in return for snacks.
The little 14-page picture book is both written and illustrated by the author, who has worked in the graphic design industry for years. It features color illustrations throughout and rhyming text. The poetry is short enough that it could be easily memorized and/or read aloud to a child as a bedtime story. Readable, large font and the plot which is easy to follow make it a perfect picture book for little children. An eye-catching, child-friendly cover features Mr. Charlie as he's stealing the shoes from the sleeping camper, although the images are somewhat blurry in places, which is not fully complimentary to Floersch's whimsical art. A cute, silly story for all ages.