Where's Mary's Hat?

by Barroux

When her favorite hat goes missing, fashionable Mary the Cow is determined to find it and sets out on her search where she meets a rabbit in a racing helmet and an elephant in a beanie along the way.

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

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 12, 2003

About the author

Barroux is a Paris-based illustrator whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and elsewhere.

Reviews

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute and colorful illustrations and that's about all the good. The "story," such as it is, goes on for far too long, and the punchline, while kind of cute, nevertheless lands with a thud.
Aside from Mary the cow, every character whose gender identity is specified is male, and I am getting heartily sick of having to swap character genders on the fly during storytime in order to achieve some semblance of balance.

[Marni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is worth reading for the goldfish page alone.

[Kara Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary simply adores hats. So when her very favorite hat disappears, she does the only thing a fashionable cow can do: She sets out to find it! Along the way Mary encounters a stork in a baseball cap, an elephant in a beanie, and even a rabbit in a racing helmet. Each animal has seen something strange, all right. But what they haven't seen is Mary's hat. Where oh where could it be? A witty storyline and bright, bold illustrations herald this delightful picture book by newcomer Barroux.


VERY repetitive which is good for early readers. The ending is a cute and funny way to engage readers. Students would like this book. I somewhat got bored with it though.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps a bit long--I didn't end up using this in story time, but if I had I might have clipped it a bit. The overall story and punchline is fun, but I think Who Took the Farmer's Hat is probably a better example of this same punchline.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary the cow loses her favorite hat... What's a cow to do? Join Mary as she talks to all of her animal friends and tries to find her hat. Children will enjoy the predictable element of the book as well as the shocking truth of the location of Mary's hat.

[Alfajirikali · Rating 1 out of 5]

A funny punchline, but it took way too long to get to it.

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary looks for her hat. and asks everyone. and it goes on, and on, and on. paperclip some of the pages together for the best result. a cute story, that just goes too long.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Mary cannot find her favorite hat, she asks one animal after another, but no one has seen it.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is cute, but it is definitely not the best missing hat book -- see Jon Klassen for those.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mary the cow has lost her hat and goes around asking everyone for it but no one seems to know where it is. Every animal is doing something funny in each picture.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the ending, but the story was too long.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and unnecessarily long.

[Miss Janis the Storytime Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

first time was eh. Long and redundant. but I tried again, and it was more fun because we talked about the hats and the animals, and I didn't read the words so much as just tell the story.