Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | LOW | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Silver Falls Library | JP LOW | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Oh no, Aunt Lucy a hat not a cat!
Scatterbrained Aunt Lucy loses her hat and sets off to buy a new one. But it's easy to get sidetracked by all those marvelous shops!
Children will soak up the delicious details of this imaginative townscape -- and spot Aunt Lucy's missing hat on every spread. Filled with clever wordplay, this comical escapade will delight any reader who loves memorable characters, a happy ending, and the fun of a rollicking rhyme.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-In this rhyming tale, ditzy Aunt Lucy madly searches for her new blue hat, which readers will immediately notice is tied around her neck and hanging against her back. As she heads out the door to buy a new one, the bonnet is blown away by the wind. After trying to get the woman's attention, a red bird carries it along as Aunt Lucy visits shops all over town. She is easily distracted by things that rhyme with whatever item she is looking for. So, instead of a hat, she gets a cat. Instead of milk, she picks up some silk, and so on. When she finally comes out of her daze long enough to remember why she went out in the first place, her new cat rescues the very hat she lost at the beginning of the book. The text, which has a wonderful singsong quality, reads aloud well. Children will love the hilarious and wacky collage illustrations that add many details to the narrative. "Now who'd imagine/All of that/From going out/To buy a hat?" This romp would be a fine choice to top off Esphyr Slobodkina's Caps for Sale (HarperCollins, 1947) and Ezra Jack Keats's Jennie's Hat (Viking, 2003) in a storytime about headgear.-Bina Williams, Bridgeport Public Library, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Ditzy Aunt Lucy thinks she has lost her summery blue hat, even though it dangles down her back by its purple-ribbon ties. As the hat slips loose, Huliska-Beith (The Recess Queen) introduces a helpful red bird, who attempts to return it. But the spacey Aunt strides off in search of "a hat wide brimmed/ and trimmed with lace/ to keep the sunshine/ off her face." Instead, she gets something that rhymes with it: a cat. For her new pet, the woman shops for "some milk./ .../ Milk in a cup/ for lapping up.../ Instead she bought red silk." Silk needs "thread," so she buys a "bed," and so on. Meanwhile, the red bird waves the original chapeau in Aunt Lucy's general direction, and a gust of wind delivers the hat to the pet black cat; regrettably, the attentive bird disappears from the story and the cat takes all the credit. Huliska-Beith characterizes Aunt Lucy as a gangly, retro-chic woman with a swooshy beehive hairdo, oversize plastic glasses, an A-line sixties dress and pointy mules. Low (The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches) plays with sound-alike words and emphasizes the protagonist's hyper-distractible personality. In the end, even the impulse purchases come in handy (Aunt Lucy and her cat take a nap on the new bed), and the stylish swoops of paint and skewed paper collages capture this book's benign carelessness. The content is as airy as Aunt Lucy herself, but the rhyming game provides a pleasing diversion. Ages 3-8. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
After misplacing her hat, the distractible Aunt Lucy goes shopping for a new one but ends up buying other things instead, including a cat and a bed. Luckily the cat manages to retrieve Aunt Lucy's old hat, and all is well. Zany illustrations depicting Aunt Lucy with a beehive hairdo lend energy to this comical rhyming tale. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
PreS-Gr. 1. Absentminded Aunt Lucy has lost her hat. She heads downtown to replace it but finds herself surrounded by retail temptations that distract her from her task. First, a cat catches her fancy; then, of course, one must have milk for kitty; and so on, until the hat is totally forgotten. Rhythmically similar to The House Thatack Built and structured around word pairings familiar from basal readers (cat/hat, bed/thread, meat/sheet), Low's verses are right on target for very young children. Although Lucy's purchases have more to do with phonics than logic, little ones will hardly mind as they enjoy the catchy rhythms, giggle at Lucy's foolish choices, and sympathize with the challenge of distinguishing wants from needs. Illustrator Huliska-Beith's Aunt Lucy looks the part of a flighty oddball with her towering hairstyle and cat's-eye spectacles, and the many collage details in the pictures add a suitably eccentric touch. Pair this with Paul Meisel's Zara's Hats (2003) and the Esphyr Slobodkina classic, Caps for Sale, for a fashion-forward story hour. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2004 Booklist