Hooray for Hat by Brian Won

Hooray for Hat by Brian Won
Buy Hooray for Hat by Brian Won at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Sam Tyler
Summary: Elephant starts off the morning in a very grumpy mood, but a surprise package full of hats soon sorts this out. Join Elephant and his pals as they go about cheering up everyone else in this simple, but fun, children's storybook.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 40	Date: August 2014
Publisher: Andersen
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781783441761
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Helping someone is a great way to make them feel good and what better way to do this than providing a novelty hat? I can think of a few things myself, but for Elephant, Zebra, Turtle and the rest of their pals; hat-giving is the joy de jour.

For a children’s book to work, I am not too fussed about it working on a level that will appeal to the adult reading the book; this is not meant for them. Instead, the book should be aimed squarely at the child and if the adult also likes it too, that is a bonus. Hooray for Hat!, written and illustrated by Brian Won, is a book that works best for the kids, whilst the adult remains a little confused to its popularity.

Let’s get the biggest issue out of the way first; Hooray for Hat. There is more than one hat throughout the story, should it not be Hooray for Hats? The various animals on show do not appear to be bothered and I can tell you that a toddler is not really fussed either as they are too involved with the adventure that is happening and the great illustrations.

The story is very simple; a repeat exercise of going to a different animal and cheering them up with a hat. This is a little basic, but proved very popular with a younger toddler just starting out in the reading game. What it can mean is that the book is very repetitive for an adult; like the That’s Not My range of books. There is a nice twist at the end of the book that plays on the story so far, as well as giving a good lesson to children about being unselfish and helping one another.

What Hooray lacks in sophistication story wise, it makes up for through the appealing images. There is a great sense of colour and scale in Won’s drawings and the fact that the book flips is also good fun. The animals look great and are characterful; you can almost see what they are thinking on each page. The minimalist look means that the creatures stand out, but once again this does make repeat reading a little more difficult as there are no background elements to point out and mix things up with.

Overall, Hooray is a simple story told well and in a beautiful manner. It has a good message, but the lack of sophistication in the narrative (even for a children’s book) means that it may only appeal to a toddler for a short time before they look to move onto something slightly more challenging.

If this book appeals then try Hats Off! by Neil Griffiths and Janette Louden and Bear, Bird and Frog by Gwen Millward.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Hooray for Hat by Brian Won at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Hooray for Hat by Brian Won at Amazon.com.

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