Mr. Brown, a cheerful, pear-shaped brown bear, is a big, big fan of hats. As he steps out one morning, he's wearing the perfect topper to call on his friend Miss Plum: a wide-brimmed purple derby with a perky flower in the brim. Alas! It's raining. Luckily, "I have just the hat for that," says Mr. Brown, retreating to don a bright yellow rain hat. He opens the door again... but now it's snowing! Thank goodness he has just the hat for a snowstorm, too: a cozy, green-ear-flapped number. Savvy readers will have a sneaking suspicion by now that his next attempt to leave the house will be met by yet another hat-changing event--and they will be right. Again and again (but not enough to get boring!), dogged Mr. Brown returns to his hat rack to find the right headgear for a marching band, a "rootin' tootin' rodeo" and even a fire-breathing dragon. When he realizes he's going to be late for his visit, his delightful solution is, of course, to wear them all, one on top of the other. Little does he know that the biggest surprise of the day awaits him behind Miss Plum's door: a birthday party for him with all the friends we've been catching sight of in previous pages.
Hats off to T. Nat Fuller and Rob Hodgson for joining the pantheon of hat-obsessed children's authors and illustrators. Their silly and entertaining contribution will fit nicely on the shelf between P.D. Eastman's Go, Dog. Go! and Esphyr Slobodkina's Caps for Sale. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor