Blog Entry #9

The Magic Hat

Written by Mem Fox

Illustrated by Tricia Tusa

Harcourt, Inc., 2002

32 pages

Fiction

            I chose this book because it has been a favorite with young children since it was written. It has a very catchy rhyme that appeals to children. The Magic Hat is about a hat that flew through the air and into town, sat on people’s heads, and turned them into animals. Then a wizard came, turned the animals back into people, and left town with the magic hat. He left town as a little boy with the magic hat sitting on his head.

            The illustrations in The Magic Hat are very colorful and fun. The media in this book are drawing in ink and painting with watercolors. On almost every page, there is a beautiful landscape and sky in the background. The fact that there are a lot of landscape illustrations, means there is a variety of earth tones and natural colors that were used. In addition to those colors, there are very bright, fun colors that portray the mood of this book. The wizard’s outfit has a lot of different colors that are all bright and happy. There are many people and animals in the book, so almost every page is full of large illustrations.

            This book is appropriate for a second grade student according to the reading level. Although, this book would be just fine for a kindergarten or first grade read aloud that is done by the teacher. If it were used in a second grade lesson, it could be used for making predictions about what animal the people in the book would be turned into next based on the illustrations in the book. This book would be a great example of rhyming words. The Magic Hat could be used for comprehension and sequence. Students could retell the order in which people were turned into animals in the book. This book has no awards or honors.