Brimsby's hats by Andrew Prahin

I picked up this little picture book Brimsby's Hats yesterday because ...

• I loved the cover - the title is silver and embossed - you have to look closely to read it and it is so tactile
• Later this year we will once again celebrate National Simultaneous Storytime and this year it is a simple book about hats (I got this hat) so I have begun to make a collection of books on this theme.  We will read Brimsby's hats in the lead up to NSS
• It has been snowing in the Northern hemisphere and we are seeing new pictures here in Australia of huge piles of snow in places like NYC.  Meanwhile here in Australia, especially in Sydney, we seem to be lurching from one heat wave to the next so the idea of reading a cool book held great appeal

Brimsby is a hat maker.  My aunt was a hat maker or milliner. Brimsby makes hats for customers who live all over the world.  His other delight is spending time drinking tea and chatting with his good friend.  One day his friend ( we never discover his name) leaves.  Brimsby is alone and everything becomes very quiet. On this page each window shows the same scene as the trees change through the seasons until the land is white and the trees are bare.

Now we come to the part of this book that I love.  Brimsby does not sit around feeling sorry for himself he sets off into the snowy landscape to find a new friend or two.  Naturally he wears his favourite hat.  He finds some birds but they are preoccupied with other concerns and ignore his gesture of friendship.  Once again Brimsby impressed me.  He goes home and works on a wonderful solution to this problem with the birds.

It’s a well-crated little book full of unique charm. A example of old and new working together perfectly.