Read Aloud Thursday

I have my good friend Wanda, book lover and quilter extraordinaire, to thank for this first book in today’s Read Aloud Thursday post.  (Hi, Wanda! 🙂  )  Actually, the girls and I had checked this book out once before and loved it, but I had forgotten about it until Wanda reminded me of it when she gifted me with a stack of wonderful picture books (more on these later, of course) with a Post-it note affixed to the top book.  The Post-it read “Miss Hunnicutt’s Hat, The Quiltmaker’s Gift, Jeff Brumbeau.”  I couldn’t get my hands on  The Quiltmaker’s Gift at the library, so it  is sitting in a big brown truck somewhere, in transit to the House of Hope even as I compose this post, but I wanted to go ahead and highlight Miss Hunnicut’s Hat because it is truly too good to miss.

The girls and I have read and re-read this book no fewer than four times in any given day since checking it out from the library a couple of weeks ago.  Miss Hunnicutt’s Hat is silly enough to make them laugh, but it carries a message without being overly didactic.  Miss Hunnicutt is a meek and timid lady who just happens to have a penchant for wearing strange hats.  She finally summons the courage to wear her unusual hat and is met with much disapprobation from her neighbors.  In fact, she causes quite a scene in the middle of her town’s preparations for a visit from the queen.  Fortunately for Miss Hunnicutt, however, the queen herself has unusual taste in headwear.  I think the thing my girls like best about this story is Miss Hunnicutt’s justification for her silly hat: 

I think I might have the right to wear what I like.  And I won’t wear a lobster and I won’t wear a weasel.  But I would like to wear a chicken.  And I’d like to wear it on my head.

Gail deMarcken’s illustrations are colorful and very expressive, perfect for this book about marching to the beat of one’s own drum.  Highly Recommended!
Elizabeti’s Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen couldn’t help but be a winner in my book.  It’s the story of a little Tanzanian girl, Elizabeti, who mimics her mother’s care of her new baby brother by finding her own “rock baby” to care for.  This is a lovely, gentle story of maternal care.  It resonates so with me because I have a “rock baby” story in my own family archives:  my granny, who died when Lulu was almost a year old and Louise was still in the womb, loved to tell the story of her own rock baby she cared for as a little girl in rural Alabama.  It seems that little girls are alike the world over, hmm?  (My girls really liked this one, too–almost as much as I did!  😉 ) Christy Hale communicates warmth and love with her illustrations in this sweet story.  Another Highly Recommended!

What has your family been reading lately?  Share a link to your blog post in the comments, or just write about it in the comments.  We’d love to be inspired by your picks! 

Have a terrific Read Aloud Thursday!

Advertisement