Sonderbooks Book Review of Lulu's Hat

Reviewed November 10, 2002.
Walter Lorraine Books (Houghton Mifflin), Boston, 2002. 74 pages.

I don’t usually give simple chapter books a high rating, but this one completely charmed me. Susan Meddaugh is the author of the brilliant picture book Martha Speaks about a dog who talks when she eats alphabet soup. Her cartoon-like illustrations add some fun to Lulu’s Hat.

In True Magic Families, exactly one member of each generation is born with the gift of Real Magic. Everyone in Lulu’s family knows that she can’t be the one, since she is adopted. So why is she able to do magic when she finds the hat in the bottom of her uncle’s costume trunk?

Lulu decides that the hat must be magic, but it is hard to control it. When she tries for a rabbit, she gets all sorts of other creatures out of the hat. When her dog disappears inside the hat and doesn’t come back, Lulu decides she’d better go in after him.

This is a fun story and perfect for kids who are ready for a real chapter book. It doesn’t sacrifice story in its simplicity.

Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****Lulu's Hat*

by Susan Meddaugh