Sam's Winter Hat
PreS–Sam is absentminded. While outside playing, the little cub removes his coat. Just as his mother discovers that it is missing, his friend returns it. The next day, the bear takes off his mittens to fix his bike and returns home without them. Just then his father comes home bearing the mittens, found in the garage. Then Sam loses the hat his Grandma sent. Struggling to remember where it could be, he topples over and looks up to find it stuck on a tree branch above the fence he just climbed. The simple story contains minimal action, but children will relate to Sam's forgetfulness. McPhail's detailed and textured watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations create a warm and welcoming feeling. The book will work best with one-on-one guided reading, but it can also be used as a dialogic reading exercise.–Linda Zeilstra Sawyer, Skokie Public Library, ILCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.