A Boy Had a Mother Who Bought Him a Hat
Kindergarten-Grade 2—Brilliant, buoyant, beautiful are the words that describe Kuskin's newly illustrated story. The boy's mother indeed buys him a hat, but she doesn't stop there. Her many purchases include shoes, boots, skis, a scary mask, a mouse, an elephant, and a cello. "He loved them so much/that whatever he did/or whatever he said/when dressed in his hat/which was woolly and red,/while holding his mouse/in its house of sky blue,/and wearing his shoes/which were hidden but new,/he did with his boots on…." Hawkes's quirky, old-fashioned paintings add a great deal to the rollicking text. For example, when the boy receives the shoes, the illustration shows him extending a newly shod foot as he soars on a tire swing, a bird singing from the top of his red woolly hat, the mouse in a Fred Astaire pose outside its house, and a happy, striped cat clinging to the tire. On the final spread, the boy's hat flies off because of the frosty, windy heights atop an elephant's back, prompting his mother to yell, "It is very clear that you must have a new hat." A bonus picture on the copyright page shows the child and his animal friends protected from the falling snow by a giant sombrero. For those yet to experience Kuskin's work, this is a delightful door through which to enter her special universe, and legions of fans will be thankful that this story has been given new life.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NYCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.