The Magic Hat

by Mem Fox, Tricia Tusa (Illustrator)

One fine day, from out of town--and without any warning at all--a magic hat appears in the sky. It tumbles and bounces through the air and makes magic wherever it lands. Everyone is delighted as, one by one, the townspeople are transformed into giant playful animals. And then a wizard arrives. . . .
With irresistible rhyming language and bright, whimsical illustrations, this perfect read-aloud by internationally acclaimed author Mem Fox will weave its way into the hearts of young children everywhere.

Genres: Picture Books, Fantasy, Childrens, Magic, Storytime, Fiction, Animals

32 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

About the author

Merrion Frances Fox is an Australian writer of children's books and an educationalist specialising in literacy. Fox has been semi-retired since 1996, but she still gives seminars and lives in Adelaide, South Australia.

Reviews

[Suz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indy and I just read this after reading another most important one from the same author Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives.

It's never too late to start reading more, but I wish I did start earlier with Indy. I work in a library now, so there are so many choices for us. We are extremely lucky.

A good book, the illustrations I feel may be not so clear though for Indy's age group, though. I don't know if this really is the case though as I haven't asked him. I just think they may not be so appealing to kids. They may be a little hard to ascertain. On the plus side, good repetition with simple story. A floaty loopy magic hat. All the better when I provide no holds barred expression!

[*❆ Kαɾҽɳ ❆* · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was quite a funny and interesting book. Loved how it rhymes so well!

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 This is the cute, imaginative story of a magic hat that comes to town one special day. When it lands on people's heads, they turn into animals! The rhyming text begs to be read aloud and encourages children to guess what kind of animal each person will turn into. Tricia Tusa's illustrations are fun although it's not my favorite offering from her. I have to say this is one of those few cases where I felt a bit too "old" to fully enjoy this particular "children's" book, although I think my five-year-old self would have had a hoot with the rhymes and trying to guess each animal :-)

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 4th grade we read a story about a funny hat. But it wasn't really about a hat, it was about the dangers of marijuana! There wasn't a metaphor or anything, it was like someone wrote a few pages about a teenage boy secretly smoking pot, and every time the term came up it was replaced with the word "hat". Eventually (eventually being almost immediately, because this was very short) the kid's little sister found his hat in the closet and put it on, and got all dizzy. Then the boy felt bad and stopped being a pothead hat-wearer. I think he also got redeye at one point, too. Weed is bad!

Besides, weed is so 10 minutes ago. All the cool kids take hallucinogens wear magic flying hats these days. And you know the author is down with the hip young folks because she uses the word "old" a lot in a somewhat pejorative sense.

I would've been quite upset had my mother been transformed into a kangaroo before my very eyes. Don't take drugs hats from strangers, mothers! Your children need you in human form!

[Luann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I just don't get the point of this one. It's cute enough - love the illustrations! - but somehow I wanted more. Where did the hat come from? What made it magical? Does the boy--I mean, giant wizard--go around all the time leaving red spotted eggs that hatch into weird-looking chickens? And if so, why? And what does that have to do with the magic hat? Maybe the whole thing took place in the boy's imagination or in a dream? If so, I think I would like it better. I usually really like Mem Fox, but this one just doesn't do much for me.

I do need to add that I enjoyed seeing the people turned into an animal that looked a lot like their human self by the magic hat. That part was fun.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of imaginative rhyme, with nice illustrations

[Marielle Mullen]

frantically reading picture books to my little cousins to meet my reading goal-core 😍

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheerful illustrations carry this song-like story in rhyme from page to page; a magic hat spins through the air and lands on the heads of different animals, ending up to rest on a wizard. Whimsical and fun - surely a picture book that would entice a young child.

[McKenna Ruedinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the illustrations in this book and Mem Fox did a great job of creating a storyline that is fun for everyone!

[Cheryl]

Can't rate. Need a kid's perspective. I do like the rhyme (though usually I don't); it's like a song, almost. So I'm thinking, sometimes I'm a grouch; what would I get turned into? And would I appreciate the experience, as these townfolk do?

[babyhippoface · Rating 3 out of 5]

One day, out of nowhere, a magic hat flies through the sky and lands on the head of a crank-looking old man, who is immediately transforms into a toad. The hat flies off the toad's head and lands on another person, who is transformed into a baboon. The wind picks the hat up again, and the magic continues.

Kids will enjoy guessing what animal they'll see when they turn the page and seeing the transformation of the people. Another goodreads user (can't remember who) mentioned that she read this to kids then asked them to decide what they think they'd turn into. I think that would be a fun follow-up to reading this one.

And before I end this, I have said it before and I will say it again: I am a devoted Tricia Tusa fan. I will look at anything she's illustrated.

[Candice Lemon-scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite picture books for children and it was a pleasure sharing it with the pre-school kids at Smarter Kids and Preps at QIC during Book Week. One of Mem Fox's greatest talents as an author (in my humble opinion) is her ability not only to excite children's imaginations but also to take the reader on a guided, rhythmic journey. This book is especially clever in the way the words create movement. Another clever device is the use of rhyme to enable children to guess what animal the magic hat will change the next character into, thereby drawing children into the storytelling process. Definitely a page turner that kids respond well to.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big part of my rating for kids books is readability. If it doesn't flow well I get annoyed, since I generally have to read it thousands of times. But this is rhyming without being annoying and my kids love the thought of people turning into animals and then back again.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect for children just learning how to read. They can predict what will happen next with both the pictures and the rhymes. This is a fun book to do a writing activity and have children draw what animal they would turn into if the magic hat landed on them.

[Ina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small blue hat appears and floats through a town landing on random townsfolk and turning them into animals! Simple rhyming text and joyous illustrations tell this imaginative tale, with a happy ending. My story time audience loved this one.

[Samantha Hanhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book followed a magic hat that went around changing people into animals. The rhyming was fun and easy to follow making it perfect for a child to follow along and "fill in the blanks."

[Angie Munoz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where did the hat come from? Leaves children wondering where the hat will go next.

[Relyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Mem Fox and this is a fun adventure for my youngest students.

[sweet orange books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read and rated: 2018-11-26

[Jcraig2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Title: The Magic Hat
Author/Illustrator: Mem Fox
Reading Level: LG
Book Level: 2.8
Book Summary:
This is the story of a magic hat that flies through the town turning people in the town into animals.

Bookshelf Mentor Writing Trait:
Organization- This book series is a great way to introduce young writers to the concept of organization in a story. In the book, the writer writes the story in a way that makes it easy for the reader to understand the story and make predictions about what comes next. I think a great way to use this book in a classroom to teach the writing trait of organization is to being by reading the book aloud, but not all the way. Have students make a prediction about what might happen in the story by writing their own version of what happens next. Then have students come back together to see if they were right about any of the predictions after finishing the book. From there, I would have students work together in groups. They would be given a writing prompt for the beginning of a story and then asked to create a what happens next version together as a group. I would then have all students share their stories. I would connect this activity to the idea that sometimes readers have predictions of what will happen in their own heads and as writers we are to paint a picture of what's happening in our own heads to help the reader connect their thoughts to the story we want to tell. Sometimes the reader's picture and predictions may make a more interesting story so we should listen to our readers' ideas and not get stuck on one way of writing.
Other suggestions:
This book is also a great book for talking about order of events in a book. I would ask students to do a quick 5 finger retell to a partner after reading the book completely as a read aloud to practice retelling skills.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, a magic hat appears. The magic hat bounces from head to head, turning the people underneath it into animals. Then, a giant wizard appeared that made the hat stop. The toad, baboon, bear, kangaroo, and giraffe were all turned back into people. With a distraction, the wizard slipped out of town and put the magic hat on his head. Can you guess what he turned into?

I liked the size of this book; it is considerably bigger than a standard picture book. The illustrations filled the large pages perfectly. Everything was vibrant with high energy and happy emotion. I also loved to see how much bigger the wizard was compared to the town’s people. My favorite part of this selection was the constant two lines when the hat was moving from head to head. It said, “Oh, the magic hat, the magic hat! It moved like this, it moved like that!” I like the repetition and rhyme because students would enjoy singing along, and they will become engaged with the story. The last thing I want to talk about is how I found this book and what a coincidence that it was written by Mem Fox. My class had discussed Mem Fox at the very beginning of the semester. I read the book Reading Magic, and I had intensely enjoyed it. However, since then I have not really been diving into her work until this point. When I found this book, I was not paying attention to any certain author. I was merely walking up and down the shelves at the library looking for a book that caught my eye. I believe I picked this one because of its size and did not even recognize who the author was until I got home. I just thought it was crazy out of all the books in the library I happened to pick a book whose author I was familiar with.

[Alyssa Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. The Magic Hat by Mem Fox has not won any awards.
2. I think this is a fun book for grades PreK through first or second.
3. In this story, a magic hat appears out of no where floating from one animal to the next. Everyone loves watching the hat do its magic. However, a wizard comes to take back his magic hat.
4. I think this book is a lot of fun. From rhyming to an entertaining story line, I think kids will love it. It also is a good book to awaken students' imaginations.
5. I would use this book for a read aloud and have the students do a fun activity afterwards. One activity I might do is have them draw their own magic hat, however that might look. It could be a sombrero to a construction hat or even a beret. They could also draw something completely new. Another activity I would do is have the students write about what they would want their magic power to be or if they had a magic hat what would they hope the magic does.

[Ashley Pascual · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Magic Hat is a fun children book that I personally enjoyed reading. The book talks about a magic blue hat flying through the way in a small town. As the hat lands on different people's heads, they end up turning into an animal. Until a magical wizard appears to turn all the animals back into humans. This book is short yet entertaining and is a great book I think all children should read. It is a fantasy book that contains a magical aspect, which to me is a great way for children to be transported into another world. The text in this book is very straightforward which will be easy for kids to understand. Also, the illustration is very detailed containing fun bright colors. I would use this book in the classroom as a lesson for when I teach them about the genre modern fantasy. This book is a great example of a modern fantasy book because it contains magic.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story follows the a magic hat as it flies through the air and lands on unsuspecting animals. It floated from a toad, to a baboon, to a sleeping bear, to a kangaroo, and finally to a giraffe. Then, all of a sudden, a wizard appeared with a sign that said Stop! He pulled a wand from his beard and waved it around, turning the animals back into people. He then skipped out of town with the hat on his head, but he had magically been transformed into a boy

This book was a bit silly to me. We didn't know why the animals/humans had been transformed in the first place, but then saw that they were transformed back. I guess I wanted the story to dig deeper. The illustrations were nice, but the story lacked depth.

[LeeAnn Owens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary: One afternoon a small town receives an unexpected visitor- a magic hat! The hat floated around to different people casting its magic and turning them into animals of all sorts. Then, a wizard comes into the town to cause a distraction and get his magic back.

Evaluation: I didn't really enjoy this book in regards to content. However, the repetitive nature of the book would be perfect for an emerging reader because they can anticipate the words that will be coming up.

Teaching Point: I would use this book to help my students with fluency, since each page essentially says the same thing and it is so repetitive.

[Todd R · Rating 3 out of 5]

One day in a small village, a magic hat appears out from nowhere. As the hat floats through the village, it lands on people and turns them into animals. The hat keeps floating around until along comes a wizard who magically turns the animals back into people, much to the delight of the townsfolk. The book is cute and would be good to use for K-2 grades. I like how the story repeats the lines, "Oh, the magic hat, the magic hat! It moved like this, it moved like that!" on most all of the pages. It would be easy to have the students choral read with you. The book also lends well to work on rhyming words with kids and have them predict what animal that hat lands on next.

[Jill Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Magic Hat by Mem Fox is an example of her rhyming skill, to make a story that children will be chanting, and entranced by.

The illustrations by Tricia Tusa have the reader searching the pages to see where the magic hat comes from, where it lands, and what happens to the people who transform with the magic the hat creates when it lands on their heads.

I'm sure this book has been read to many a kindy or first-grade class and the children chortle and point at the Magic Hat.

Oh, the magic hat, the magic hat!
It moved like this, it moved like that!
Where will it land next?

[Vanessa Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Magic Hat is an adorable book about a hat that turns people into animals. I thought that this book showed creativity and I think this could make an amazing read-aloud. Students can repeat what the book is saying because of the repetition. They can also guess what animal is going to be on the next page and it says what happens next. In the book, it could be a great thing to point out and ask students what they think is going to happen next. I liked this book and want it in my classroom library.
Author: Mem Fox
Illustrator: Tricia Tusa
Publisher: Clarion Books May 1, 2006

[Rachel Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

One day, a hat flies into town. It flies from person to person and animal to animal, flying and throwing its magic around! A giant wizard comes to town and shows off the hat’s magic. I was not a huge fan of this book because I did not really understand the story line. I would use this in therapy to increase literacy and increase working memory by targeting answering questions after being read a story.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another classroom read aloud a while back about a magic hat that lands on the head of varying animals with a surprise at the end. My students and I loved the rhythm of the book, and were surprised and delighted by the ending. The illustrations are beautiful and playful and really add to the book. I recommend it for classroom read alouds, beginning readers, and parents and children to read together.