Millie's Marvellous Hat by Satoshi Kitamura

Millie's Marvellous Hat by Satoshi Kitamura proved a hit last week and also provided us with a fabulous half-term activity!

It's the lovely simple tale of Millie who goes into a hat shop after spotting a hat she likes in the window, but when she opens her purse and looks to see if she has enough money to pay she finds it totally bare and so the shopkeeper comes up with an imaginative solution. The text is spare but beautifully written and the illustrations are gorgeous with wry funny touches that mean going back again and again (and again!) is a joy rather than a chore.

We had a lot of fun making our own marvellous hat, although it proved hard to wear for very long! I'm sorry it's not a brilliant photo but you can see the kind of thing we did.

Satoshi Kitamura is actually appearing very soon at the South Ken Kids Festival at the Institut Francais which runs from the 17th to the 23rd November. I wish we could go to this festival, there are more than 50 events on the programme including Quentin Blake, Judith Kerr and Axel Scheffler. You lucky London people!