HALLOWEEN HATS

A group of neighborhood children set off for a night of Halloween fun in this holiday offering from Winthrop (Dumpy La Rue, 2001, etc.). The rhyming text focuses on the hats that the trick-or-treaters wear with their costumes, from the common (a pointed witch’s hat) to the unusual (a football helmet with attached antennae for a ladybug costume). “Hats with feathers, / hats with ears, / hats to wave when someone cheers.” The frolicking children all troop off to an evening party at their school, where they are greeted by a smiling witch (the principal?). Then they play a circle game, tossing their hats into the air and exchanging headgear for a new look to their costumes. Truesdell’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations are chock full of humorous details, with grinning children, clever costumes, and nothing at all spooky for those who like their Halloweens wholesome. The illustrations are rather small for sharing with a group, but the bouncy text and wild variety of hats will be a treat in any Halloween story hour, especially with a collection of the creative chapeaux as props. (Picture book. 3-7)