Do You Have a Hat?

by Eileen Spinelli

A fancy hat. A hat that's plain.
A hat for keeping off the rain.
A glowing hat. A hat with fruit.
A hat for that new dress or suit.
All herein have hats, it's true --
fantastic, magnificent hats!
Do you?
What do Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, Russian-American composer Igor Stravinsky, South American entertainer Carmen Miranda, African-American cowboy Nat Love, and President Abraham Lincoln have in common?
HATS! Unique, distinctive, wonderful hats! And this bright and cheerful picture book from best-selling author Eileen Spinelli and colorful newcomer Geraldo Valério will have you thinking twice before going outside without yours!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Storytime, Poetry, History

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Eileen Spinelli is an award-winning children's book author from southeastern Pennsylvania. She has written over 100 picture books and novels for children. Her husband is Jerry Spinelli, who also writes books for children.

Reviews

[Meghan Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sad I didn't come across this book sooner. I think it would be a really fun book to use in a preschool storytime about hats. I love the rhythm and rhyme throughout the book and the incorporation of famous historical people and their hats.

[Cosette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe if it didn't rhyme I'd like it better. Maybe.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fun book is an introduction to famous and the hats they wore. Think Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman and a host of others. Of course all the famous people went right over my kids heads but it was the kids enjoyed one reading of it.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story. Lovely illustrations. Nice read aloud for early grades in school, complete with references to real historical persons who wore remarkable hats.

[Andrew J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute. It's a poem about different kinds of hats.

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is about famous hats and who wore them! My students loved it!

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all the hats and all the people we get to know better in this book!

[Patrice]

Sabine liked more than Emerick

[Mrs Heet -Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rhyming story about hats that also quickly introduces historical figures and the hats they wore. Might encourage kids to look up and research these figures.

[Kelsey Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my fav

[Ashley Aolani Salisbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of fun hats for everyone.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually got a copy of this book out of a box of Cheerios.

It is a rather good children's book. The writing is solid, rhymes, and reads well aloud. It entertains my two year olds, seems likely to entertain when they are able to read on thier own, and is educational without being overly preachy or moralizing. The illustrations have a modernist bent, and tend to be abstract and friendly in a way that is slightly cartoonish, but are very colorful and appropriate. In particular, I like that the illustrations do what I find many of the best children's illustrated books do which is provide visual details at several increasing fields of depth (see Tibor Gergely's classic illustrations of 'The Little Red Caboose' for an excellent example of this). This gives little minds plenty to absorb even over repeated readings.

The book is typical of children's lit, modern or otherwise, in going out of its way to be politically correct for its time. In this case, there is evidence that the author thinks that every child reader just has to have characters that look exactly like them to relate to (or at least that the book will only be published if it meets this criteria), and as such there are some slightly odd choices among that hat wearers to meet the requisite diversity (Nate Love as the iconic cowboy hat wearer, Sallie Ride as the iconic astronaut). However, because the book isn't preachy I can easily forgive that, and I can't see any real harm done in introducing some slightly more obscure figures. I just wonder whether or not 50 years from now they'll have a laugh or cringe at our current touchiness and too often unreflected upon assumptions of the absolute moral worth of diversity.

[Tory Haberman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do YOU Have A Hat? by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Geraldo Vaerio is such a unique and creative book. It is about different people throughout history that wore a special hat, describing characteristics of them and the hats themselves. That is, Abraham Lincoln, Nat Love, Francisco de Goya, and more! The book has a well thought out rhyme scheme that shows us that through narrative and illustrations that different hats represent who we are as individuals. We have to find “the hat” that makes us who we are!

The illustrations in the book are very abstract and have almost cartoonish like characters. The colors are very colorful from reds, oranges, and baby blue. This really helped the characters stand out and pop out at you. Also, the text being placed on the opposite side of the characters make it easy to identify, not taking into the account the oversized “YOU” text. Lastly, I want to point out that Spinelli did a great job at representing and decorating each hat/character in such a way as to represent the different cultures in and outside of the United Sates. This book would be great when introducing children to historical characters and helping them create their own identity.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narrative tells about the different hats we wear to represent who we are as people or what we like to wear. Some wear hats for festivities and others for all sorts of reasons. The main character is a young boy, but he is unnamed in this text. The author Eileen Spinelli captures a little boy as he describes different hats throughout history (Francisco de Goya, Abraham Lincoln, Nat Love, etc.) The story takes place at his grandparent’s house. As a future educator I will use this text to teach about historic individuals who made an impact in history and how their hats gave a sense of who they were. Also, I would use this book to ask students what is their favorite hat to wear and why is that important to them. Spinelli’s illustrations about the different hats appeared to show the accuracy of the color usage and decorations that people in and outside the U.S uses. Also, her illustrations were simple and a breath of fresh air. When I begin to illustrate and write my book I have to remember that there should always be a meaning behind a narrative story, especially with children. This book gave me insight on what to implement into my children’s book.

[Lisa P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do YOU Have a Hat? by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Geraldo Valério is a great book! I absolutely loved that the talked about all different people in history who wore hats and described them and what the hates looked like. I never know that there were that many people in history who wore hats. Also I found it interesting that for some of those people you identified them by the hat they wore without even realizing it. For example Abe Lincoln (he’s in the book by the way) and his tall black hat that everyone knows. The illustrations were very vibrate in color and really caught my attention. I also loved that the book provided a little snippet of the person in the front and back of the book. I would definitely have this book in my future classroom because they children would love the illustrations and I could use when we talked about different people in history who were important. In my opinion great book!

[Megan Boomgarden]

This book is a fun rhyming story about many historical figures and the differetn hats they wore. The first thing I noticed when i started flipping through the pages was the endpapers. In both the front and the back of the book the endpapers are decorated with painted cartoon-like replications of historical figures from all cultures, from presidents and queens to artists and authors. Each little figure is accompanied by a caption explaining some historical information about who the person is and their accomplishments. The endpapers of this picture book hold more purpose than just structual support, they would also be good to read to children to give some historical background about the characters in story. This book is good visually, because of the bright colors and fun detailed pictures, but it also has good acedemic benefits too.

[Erik This Kid Reviews Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love hats. There. I said it. Happy? I collect hats of all types. So, learning about famous people and their hats, to me, is just plain awesomeness. Mrs. Spinelli has written a fun factual story that makes you want to smile. I loved reading about the famous people and what hats they wore. The illustrations are warm and are full of things in the fore- and background that catches your eye. Plus, this is a good time of year to talk about hats. For those in the Northern Hemisphere – hats that keep you warm. For those in the Southern Hemisphere – hats that keep the sun off! This is a perfect book for young kids (and old kids)! Mrs. Spinelli is a master of picture books!
*I got a copy of this book for a gift*

[Relyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a silly book in verse form. I think was a great choice to write about famous people and their famous hats.

Classroom Connection
This might be a fun tie-in to biographies. A few weeks before beginning our biography unit, I think I'll read this and just hint at reading biographies about some of the people in this book such as Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, and Sally Ride. Those types of hints help students get excited. And, then when the unit begins, they have a built in text-to-text connection.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really cute and my boys liked it. They are big fans of hats, so this was a fun one to read to them! It talks about famous people who were notorious for wearing hats like Carmen Miranda, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, and John Chapman, just to name a few. I like how at the end of every page the author asked, "Do YOU have a hat?"

[Ina · Rating 5 out of 5]

With wonderfully bright illustrations, the text "name drops" depicting famous people and the hats they wore. The end notes provide information about all of the people and their accomplishments. The rhyming text is fun to read aloud and the kids love the refrain of, "Do you have a hat?" There was much discussion of the types of hats my audience owns and wears. Great, fun read-aloud.

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful, rhyming introduction to hats and the people (inside covers) who wore them. I was scared to try and read it for my hat story time, since they are younger 2s & 3s. However, I found myself doing the Saturday Read Aloud time and one of the children chose it for me to read. The children and their parents seemed to enjoy it.

[Eva Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was OK but I thought from the cover that there might be just a LITTLE more snow in it. But I guess every book can't be ALL about snow, and this one WAS called "Do You Have A Hat?" and NOT "Snow Is Great!"
I love the colors and it's almost like a song.
OK. This one is a good one!
I didn't see a baseball cap, though.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this off the shelf randomly while looking for career storytime books... from the cover I thought it could be used for hat or winter storytime, but *surprise* it actually will work for career storytime. It is about famous folks who had a passion for their work and the hats they wore. Community helper storytime is important but it's also nice to see "work" from another angle.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colorfully drawn, and written in rhyme. This story tells all about the different hats worn by people in all walks of life to include artists, magicians, cowboys, astronauts, and historical figures. Throughout the story it begs the question, Do You Have A Hat? After reading this tale, you too will want to own and have a hat to wear.

[Jennifer Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

My boys love hats. They love this book. I don't even think they totally understand it yet because they aren't familiar with all of the hat-wearers in the story. But I love that they will learn who those people are and all because.. well.. they wore hats.

[Skylar Burris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This rhyming book introduces kids to historical figures (in politics, literature, art, and music) by nature of the hats they wore. It's a cute concept. Some of the figures are pretty obscure and one wonders what the choices were based on (besides hats, of course).

[Contemplative · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick fun rhyming book that introduces different historical figures and the hats they wore. Great for introducing tidbits of history to younger ones. The front and back flaps of the book give the reader information about each figure. Both of my girls thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[The Reading Countess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eileen Spinelli simply can do no wrong. This is a delightful book that reinforces a key phrase "do you have a hat" to help even the youngest readers feel successful. My youngest son identified each word by the end of the book.

[Ruth Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shares the distinctive hats of many famous people, using rhyming verse and lively pictures. From historical figures, to poets, and astronauts, each is similar because he/she wears a hat. Do YOU?

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful bright illustrations with a short description of what this certain hat would look like. This could be amazing when all different hats were available
Rhyming text describes a great variety of hats worn by celebrities throughout history