Monday, January 19, 2015

Magritte's Marvelous Hat By: D.B. Johnson



Citation:
Johnson, D. (2012). Magritte's marvelous hat: A picture book. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Lexile Score: AD620L

Summary:
                This story is about a dog who is a painter. The dog finds a magical hat that floats on his head that causes him to make the most marvelous paintings he had ever made. The dog became consumed with painting that he forgot all about his hat, who had become upset with the dog, and ran away, causing the dog to be unable to paint. Now the dog must find his hat to create paintings again.

Evaluation:
                 The pages and illustrations in this book are wonderful. They are colorful and eye popping. Some pages are even transparent, which create an illusion that children will enjoy.  Although the pictures pictured are very general and common (park, bakery, etc) the images go along great with basic, child-friendly storyline.
                The story itself is very basic and general, but attentive to children. It incorporates animals, which many children like, as well as a flying hat. The story includes places children like to go to and illustrates the dog and the hat at those locations.
                The book also has a “hide and seek” aspect to it where in many scenes the hat is blending in with the environment and the children must find the hat. Overall, between the great images and the easy-to-follow story line this book is a great choice to read.

Literary Elements:
Conflict: The hat runs away and the dog must find the hat.  
Tone: Happy, joyous, and lonely
Illustrations: bright, vivid images on transparent pages brings the book together nicely

Mini Lesson:
                 For the mini lesson I would have students create their own journey to take the hat just like in the story. Not only will children be working on their own creative writing skills, but they will also be able to incorporate their own unique and creative illustrations that go along with their own story.

Age:  reading with adult 5+, on own 8+

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