DO YOU HAVE A HAT?

In bouncy rhyme, Spinelli invites younger readers to contemplate the many shapes and uses of headgear throughout history, drawing on specific examples from Abe Lincoln to Carmen Miranda: “John Chapman had a hat. / They say he wore a cooking pot. / Some folks believe that, some do not. / If true—he was a sight indeed— / a pot-topped sower of apple seed. / Do YOU have a hat?” Valério makes his US debut with a set of smiling, fancifully stylized portraits, generally flanked by birds, bugs, or other small companions wearing similar hats. With a line or two of background for each historical figure supplied on the endpapers, this nicely expands the “hats as occupational markers” theme in Ann Morris’s Hats, Hats, Hats (1989), and others. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)