Product Description

Oh no, Aunt Lucy a hat not a cat!

Scatterbrained Aunt Lucy loses her hat and sets off to buy a new one. But it's easy to get sidetracked by all those marvelous shops!

Children will soak up the delicious details of this imaginative townscape -- and spot Aunt Lucy's missing hat on every spread. Filled with clever wordplay, this comical escapade will delight any reader who loves memorable characters, a happy ending, and the fun of a rollicking rhyme.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1952969 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2--In this rhyming tale, ditzy Aunt Lucy madly searches for her new blue hat, which readers will immediately notice is tied around her neck and hanging against her back. As she heads out the door to buy a new one, the bonnet is blown away by the wind. After trying to get the woman's attention, a red bird carries it along as Aunt Lucy visits shops all over town. She is easily distracted by things that rhyme with whatever item she is looking for. So, instead of a hat, she gets a cat. Instead of milk, she picks up some silk, and so on. When she finally comes out of her daze long enough to remember why she went out in the first place, her new cat rescues the very hat she lost at the beginning of the book. The text, which has a wonderful singsong quality, reads aloud well. Children will love the hilarious and wacky collage illustrations that add many details to the narrative. "Now who'd imagine/All of that/From going out/To buy a hat?" This romp would be a fine choice to top off Esphyr Slobodkina's Caps for Sale (HarperCollins, 1947) and Ezra Jack Keats's Jennie's Hat (Viking, 2003) in a storytime about headgear.--Bina Williams, Bridgeport Public Library, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 1. Absentminded Aunt Lucy has lost her hat. She heads downtown to replace it but finds herself surrounded by retail temptations that distract her from her task. First, a cat catches her fancy; then, of course, one must have milk for kitty; and so on, until the hat is totally forgotten. Rhythmically similar to "The House That Jack Built" and structured around word pairings familiar from basal readers (cat/hat, bed/thread, meat/sheet), Low's verses are right on target for very young children. Although Lucy's purchases have more to do with phonics than logic, little ones will hardly mind as they enjoy the catchy rhythms, giggle at Lucy's foolish choices, and sympathize with the challenge of distinguishing wants from needs. Illustrator Huliska-Beith's Aunt Lucy looks the part of a flighty oddball with her towering hairstyle and cat's-eye spectacles, and the many collage details in the pictures add a suitably eccentric touch. Pair this with Paul Meisel's Zara's Hats (2003) and the Esphyr Slobodkina classic, Caps for Sale, for a fashion-forward story hour. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Alice Low is the author of the New York Times best-seller The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches, a book that has been adapted into a musical and a short animated film. She has also edited several anthologies and written many children's books and poems. Alice Low lives in Briarcliff Manor, New York.