Very Good Hats by Emma Straub, illustrated by Blanca Gómez

Very Good Hats is a Picture Book written for ages 3 to 5.  I will review this book in the category of a Texas 2x2 book.

Very Good Hats asks, "do you know what a hat is?" and spends the rest of the book answering this question (Straub,2023, p. 3).

I chose to read Very Good Hats because it promised simple fun. In addition, one of my favorite books when I was a young child was Old Hat, New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstain, and I wanted to see how this simple book exploring the joy of hats compared.

In this review, I will be evaluating illustrations, style and language, and theme.

Gómez's illustrations in Very Good Hats are made up of distinct, bold colors, and basic shapes made up of solid lines, which reinforce the book's tone of exploration rather than storytelling. This illustration style is perfect for young children who are this book's intended audience. This book provides caregivers the opportunity to talk about colors and shapes with young readers. For example, a caregiver might say 'Look, that red raspberry is a good hat for a fingertip' or could ask 'How many circles do you see in this kitchen?' (Straub, 2023, p. 7; p.13). The illustrations' composition further supports early visual literacy because of how Gómez uses negative space. Because white space is the background for each page, the reader's eye is focused on the bright colors of the illustrations and the many different hats that the book highlights. Finally, Gómez sneaks extra hats onto almost every page, engaging young readers in a search for hats beyond what the text tells them to look for.

Straub's voice in Very Good Hats is curious and conversational, inviting the reader to wonder with her about all of the hats around them. She invites curiosity from her readers, encouraging them to look for non-traditional hats in their surroundings. Her conversational tone allows children to agree or disagree on what makes a good hat. She not only tells her readers what makes a good hat (a book, a pet, or pajama pants), but she also asks them if certain things could be hats and warns them against other items that will not work as a hat (like a bowl full of soup). She is engaged with her readers, asking them to actively participate with her in the exploration of hats, and they engage with her in turn. She invites imagination in an open and non-patronizing way. Additionally, Straub's word choice in this book is excellent, in that she primarily uses language that young children are familiar with and interact with in their everyday lives, but she also uses words like haberdashery to stretch these little readers and increase their vocabulary.

Finally, Very Good Hats has a simple theme: what is a hat? But this theme is approached with great creativity and imagination. Rather than a firm definition, Straub invites her readers to be creative explorers within their world. She thinks about a hat from the perspective of a young child and accepts that young child's definition of a hat as truth. She examines hats from various angles, be it a worker's hat or an inanimate object's hat. She explores good hats and bad hats, silly hats and serious hats, fancy hats and simple hats. Her theme, hats, is explored brilliantly. This book is an excellent choice for reading with children 2 to 5, who are learning to form schemas and to understand the this-and-that of the world, a skill Straub models beautifully through hats.

Straub, E. (2023). Very good hats (B. Gómez, Illus.). Rocky Pond Books.