A Hat for House

September 15, 2024
House's roof is blown off in a storm, but help arrives in many forms. One day, "a big, blustery gust of wind" steals House's "hat" (roof). A nearby oak tree stretches her limbs and leaves over House, but more wind WOOSHes away the attempted protection. Birds, squirrels, and mice try to help, but the wind whisks their replacement roof away, too. Human neighbors arrive to help, securing a tarp over House. The tarp protects the neighbors inside House during a rainstorm, after which a rainbow appears and roofers arrive to install a permanent roof, allowing House to "feel like myself" again. House's front resembles a face, with windows on either side of a door with a small window in it; these features function as eyes and a mouth, and window treatments provide plenty of variety in expression (to great comic effect on the final page, when House eyes storm clouds and warns, "Don't even think about it"). House's inhabitant has brown skin and a long dark braid; neighbors and roofers appear to be a diverse bunch in terms of age, gender, and ethnicity. Centering a house instead of a human as the main character provides a bit of distance and humor to a potentially scary topic, but House expresses feelings, too. The color palette reinforces this tone: House is a cheery yellow with teal trim, the oak tree's leaves are rust-orange, and the storm clouds and gusts of wind are a steely blue-gray. Hats off!(Picture book. 3-8)

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November 1, 2024
Grades K-2 By having a personified house lose its hat rather than its roof, this scary situation becomes more humorous. A woman and cat appear to live there, but the story is told from the perspective of the house itself. Facial expressions are formed by the windows and door; when the house cries, water drips off the windowsills. Everyone wants to help the house, from a tree offering sheltering limbs to birds, squirrels, mice, and finally humans. Neighbors work together to install a temporary tarp; later, roofers build a beautiful new hat that the house loves. Throughout the story, the woman and her cat go in and out, consider the damage, and gratefully work with the neighbors. The digital illustrations depict wind as dramatic swaths of gray, swooping over the pages; there is rain, a big storm, and finally a rainbow. The house's sassy reactions and eventual optimism could be comforting for children who are afraid of storms or whose homes have experienced damage.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.