Monday 23 June 2014

The Queen's Hat by Steve Antony

I read this picture book to my story time group last week. It was a lot of fun.

The typical windy day/hat chasing scenario that we've seen in many picture books before, has been given a little pomp and ceremony in The Queen's Hat!

The Queen of England loses her hat as she is about to leave for a very important visit.

What follows is a delightfully proper chase through the streets of London with the Queen, her corgi, a butler and a whole tribe of guards in train.

We see them scrambling over the lions in Trafalgar Square, up Big Ben, around the London Eye and across Tower Bridge.

A delightful Mary Poppins-style finish sees them all parachuting back to earth with their umbrella's...to land outside Kensington Palace...where the Queens regains her hat, takes baby Prince George (her very important visit) for a stroll in his pram, as the butler prepares afternoon tea.

All very proper and English!

Antony's precise line drawings, small colour palette and clean, simple details add charm and humour to this simple story. I read on his blog that he loves "big bold Pop Art" which is evident in these illustrations.

At storytime we enjoyed trying to spot the Queen, her hat and the corgi on every page.
Will you be able to find them too?

3 comments:

  1. I haven't seen this one, I do like the guards swarming all over Big Ben.

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    Replies
    1. I've just had a lovely tweet from Steve Antony saying how much he appreciated my review.
      It's nice to know that authors pop by randomly :-)

      Delete
  2. It is visually very pleasing Louise.

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