Thursday, September 3, 2009

Old Hat, New Hat - Dr. Seuss - Beginning Reader


The book Old Hat New Hat is about a bear who thinks his old hat is not good enough anymore and wants a new hat. He sees a store that is selling New Hats and decides to go in and buy one. After trying on many different types of hats, he realizes that the perfect hat for him is his dirty, patched up Old Hat. He leaves the store very happy wearing his Old Hat.
Even though this book wasn't written by Dr. Seuss it is still considered a Dr. Seuss book and is apart of the Bright and Early Books for Beginning Beginners club. This is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. Not only is the text fun and interesting as Dr. Seuss rhymes all the words, but the illustrations that go along with them are what really make the book. Dr. Seuss describes many different types of hats in this book. For example, he describes a hat that is "too light" and without having the illustrations to accompany the text, we would not have know that the hat was "too light" because it had balloons tied to it!
This book is great for young children who are just learning how to read. The words are not too difficult but if they are stuck on a word they can look up at the illustration and figure out what Dr. Seuss was writing about! I believe this book has a great message to share. Even if you have an "old hat" it does not mean that you need to trade it in for some new, flashy "new hat". Sometimes the things that make you happiest is your "old hat" and even though it is old, it doesn't mean that it is bad! At the end of the book when the bear walks out of the store happy with his "old hat" the store owner looks at him astonished, but the bear was very happy with his decision. This shows that the bear had self confidence in himself even though he was wearing an old, dirty hat. He didn't need a new, flasy hat to make him feel good about himself.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I was so happy when I got to read it again and I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy Dr. Seuss books as a child! I know I will read all the Dr. Seuss books to my children and my students when I become a parent and teacher.

Berenstain, Stan and Jan. Old Hat New Hat. New York : Random House Inc. , 1970.

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