A Holiday for Hats... and Fashion!

 Am I alone in recalling all the words to this old song... 

IN YOUR EASTER BONNET, 

WITH ALL THER FRILLS UPON IT, 

YOU'LL BE THE GRANDEST LADY

AT THE EASTER PARADE...

Easter parade? What's that all about? Click to see, if it sounds bewildering to you!

CUENTO de LUZ, 2016
Translation from original Spanish

This not-new fiction picture book felt like an ideal one to review on Easter Sunday. THE MAGIC HAT SHOP is written and illustrated by Sonja Wimmer. The cover suggests the MAGIC in its magical realism. Opening end papers focus on the REAL in this genre. Designs for various head coverings for men and women, rendered in graphics, sketches, and advertising styles, parade neatly across those opening pages. These appear to be the very fashionable offerings of a hat shop, nothing magic about them.

Since this is an author/illustrator creation, I need to emphasize the illustrations first. They, too, extend vividly recognizable objects and characters with exaggerated features or details. The small village seems like many other in picture books, and yet the landscape for this town, the nearby hillsides,  train tracks, and even the observant reader and cat are positioned on domes and rims of hats. Colors are sherbet-toned, both luminous and shadowed, with delicate features  and fingers in contrast with billowing bodies. It takes one look to realize that here we are going to confront lively fun and fantasy alongside seriously intense reality. 

And we are not wrong.

A rolling hat shop sets the stage for change, with a sort of "seer" sales person who can provide exactly the hat needed to bring out the best in the citizens. To avoid a spoiler, I'll just say that another sudden change disrupts the transformed townspeople, who are faced with resuming their former scowling approach to life. The closing end papers take just enough liberty with reality and hats to remind readers that both realism and intentional imagining can work together to generate everyday magic. Please read it, then don your own best-choice hat, figurative or real, and take yourselves out into the world. On Easter and every day.

PHAIDON BOOKS, 2025

Easter (and Spring!) also set the stage for fashionistas among us. That's why GET DRESSED! A HISTORICAL GUESSING GASME FOR FASHION LOVERS deserves our attention. It is nonfiction, utterly real, and undoubtedly new! In this case the magic is in the appeal of century-spanning spreads, challenging guessing games, and appealing nuggets of information about cultures, climates, changes, and communities across the globe. Written by KATY CANALES and illustrated  by ERIN VANESSA, this book is as beautiful as its subjects.

The quality of the physical book holds even more appeal, oversized and sturdy. It allows casual readers to share it on laps, while intense fashion fans can sprawl on elbows to examine details and even trace or copy or modify aspects of clothing (including hats!) from across time and space. 

Young fashion fans among my family and friends love to examine latest styles, to experiment, to express themselves in unique ways. But this picture book also challenges them to see patterns of purpose and progress, to consider production and materials (and waste), and imagine ways in which designs of the future can be both creative and constructive. Adults will find as much to discover in this as younger readers will, and it could easily find return readers in homes, classrooms, and libraries.

Enjoy your Sunday pursuits in whatever clothing and/or hats that you choose. Then begin your week with a peek at these two titles. And let me know what you think in the comments!

PICK A PERFECT EGG: Just in Time for EASTER!

CANDLEWICK PRESS, 2023

 I hope you are already familiar with two titles by a talented creative pair, author Patricia Toht and illustrator JARVIS. PICK A PUMPKIN and PICK A PINE are lively rhyming picture books that are ideally suited for Halloween and the winter holidays. Now this duo has produced PICK A PERFECT EGG just in time for Easter celebrations. If that holiday isn't your jam, this is also a delightful story of creativity, nature, community, maker-activity, and family experiences, not to mention that universally appealing food- EGGS!

Toht's reliably rollicking and right-on rhymes and rhythms sustain  patterns from the first two titles, while making this a distinctly independent book of its own worth. The visuals (pastels, up-close perspectives of faces, eggs, hens, and subtle suggestions of a cadre of  bunnies busily at work in the background) ideally enhance the colorful vocabulary and language that turns short stanzas into page-turners. There are moments of a-h-h and lighthearted laughter throughout. Both familiarity and recognition allow this to be a book for every child, while specificity and surprise make it exciting and re-readable.

Author Maria Marshall, fan and cheerleader for nature and nature-related activities, offers a review and "maker" suggestions for this new title, HERE.  In a related interview with Toht and Jarvis, you'll learn even more about the making of their prior books and ways in which they develop the final products of their various talents, HERE.

I hope you'll take a look, whether before the holiday or all year long. It's smile-inducing and activity-inspiring. 

Potential Bunny Pets? Read BORROWING BUNNIES First!

Popping in here with an important (and lovable) book for the Spring/Easter season. 

Farrar Straus Giroux, 2019

BORROWING BUNNIES: A Surprising True Tale of Fostering Rabbits is written by award-winning novelist Cynthia Lord, with photography by John Bald and Illustrations by Hazel Mitchell. 
Let's just agree, photos of bunnies deserve five stars and raves.
No arguing, I said.
If you don't believe me, get your hands on this book and see for yourself. 
Now, on to a discussion of the book.
This is a nonfiction, how-to book that serves as mentor text for young writers (of any age, actually), and also models practical and accessible back matter. The photos, illustration enhancements, and details of a particular fostered bunny pair will have you AW-ing at every page turn. Who on this planet would not AW and OOH at newborn bunnies that look like miniature hippos, at babies named for Dickens characters, and at happy rabbits twist-jumping in a move called a "binky". 
That's real!
Just be sure to make that final page turn to the back matter after the ooh-ing and aw-ing are over. The title of that page poses this important question: 

DO YOU WANT YOUR OWN RABBIT FOR KEEPS? 

(Who wouldn't, after reading this book?)

Some simple cautions and guides provide parents with questions and answers that will make sense to little ones: 

• Is anyone in the household allergic? (Enough said.)
• Are there very young siblings in the home? (Waiting is advised, for everyone's sake.)
• Do you have time for a rabbit? (even after the novelty wears off?)
• Will you care for it throughout its long life? (8-12 years!)
• Do you have enough money for a rabbit? (Supplies, food, veterinary care?)
• Can you keep your rabbit safe? 

This is a  must-have book for anyone considering having a bunny as a pet, but also a must-have for nonfiction collections in libraries, classrooms, and homes.

Before you even consider buying a bunny (or chick or other baby animal) to tuck into an Easter basket or offer as a gift for other seasonal celebrations, PLEASE research and be realistic about the needs of the animals involved. This is a perfect example of how research can be fun, and a reminder that there are other outlets than ownership for animal lovers. Kids are often welcome to volunteer as caregivers, fosters, walkers, petters, and such. More research could yield great solutions, since this book doesn't go into such details.
If you hope to proceed to ownership AFTER (and only after) serious investigation, I strongly recommend adoption of rescue animals rather than pet shop purchases. That should be your next stage of research. 
So, with Easter still a month away, I'm sharing this post into the ether in advance of last minute impulse buying!