Willems, Mo.
NAKED MOLE RAT GETS DRESSED
New York : Hyperion Books for Children, 2009
IL K-3, RL 2.9
ISBN 142311437X
(2 booktalks)

OK, what do you think of when you hear the word "naked"?  OK, it means not wearing any clothes, right?  So naked mole rats don't wear any clothes, right?  Right.  What's a naked mole rat you ask?  “1. They are a little bit rat. 2. They are a little bit mole. 3. They are all naked.” Except for one.  Wilbur.  He is very different from his friends.  He likes to wear clothes.  And he has lots of clothes to choose from.  Now his friends want him stopped. What will the colony ruler do?

Booktalk #2

Everyone knows naked mole rats are strange looking with their transparent wrinkly skin and long protruding front teeth, but Wilbur is the strangest of all. He is different from other naked mole rats because he proudly wears clothes. When the other naked mole rats see him dressed they are shocked and suggest he open a clothing store. Since he is so obsessed with dressing up, Wilbur decides a clothing store would be great and enthusiastically opens one up. This makes the naked mole rats even angrier. They decide to share their dilemma with wise Grand-pah naked mole rat. After pondering Wilbur’s fascination with clothing, Grand-pah calls the colony together for a proclamation. What will happen to Wilbur? What will Grand-pah say? (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award nominee, 2011)