Whose Hat Is That?

PreS-Gr 1—A well-illustrated, well-told repetitive-pattern book is worth its weight in gold in a classroom of beginning readers, and this one fills the bill perfectly. It starts with the wind taking a hat and playfully flinging it into the air. When it comes down, it lands on a cat's head, and he is quite taken with the new look. "'It looks good on me,'" he says. Whoosh! The wind takes the hat again, and it lands on a rooster's head. He is also pleased with it and echoes what the cat said. The hat goes on its journey touching down on a cow, a snake, a polar bear, a horse, a peacock, and a dog, until the little girl who lost it has it back again. Each of the animals says the same thing, with the exception of a woof, a neigh, a moo, and so on. The repetition offers great support for fledgling readers, and the illustrations answer any remaining questions they might have. This book is right up there with the royalty of pattern books such as Bill Martin Jr.'s Brown Bear, Brown Bear (Holt, 1996) and Janet and Allan Ahlberg's Each Peach Pear Plum (Puffin, 1986). Delightful and useful.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA