Using shapes in unique and curious ways, a young lad draws himself a hat--a half circle, a straight line ... and a gust of wind! The hat is lifted from endpaper his head, scoots across the title page and launches into the storyline.
The young lad draws himself a rectangle taxi with circle wheels, and gives chase. Follow that hat!
But oh no--a large, pop-up traffic jam, of multi-coloured rectangles, is blocking our lad's path. When he finally catches up with the hat, it's blown through the pop-up zoo and is now on the head of a recalcitrant monkey.
And on goes the lad, flitting from park to bakery to greengrocer and department store, in search of that pilfered hat. And all the while, kids will be agog at the popping-up scenes, angling the book this way and that, to search for the monkey on the undersides of the pop-ups, which have also been decorated with all manner of trickery and distraction.
Masses of creamy white space allow the busy illustrations to pounce beautifully from the page (with the aid of pop-ups, too), making this an entrancing visual chase.
A divine colour palette gathers pace at the climax of the story, then drops away at the end, which finishes as charmingly as it began.
Love it. A keeper.
Title: That's My Hat!
Author: Anouck Boisrobert
Illustrator: Louis Rigaud
Publisher: Thames & Hudson, $31.99 RRP
Publication Date: 1 November 2015
Format: Hard cover
ISBN: 9780500650578
For ages: 3 - 8
Type: Picture Book, Pop-Up
