Title: Jennie’s Hat

Author: Ezra Jack Keats

Illustrator/Photographer: Ezra Jack Keats

Publisher and Year: The Penguin Group, 1966

Number of pages: 30 pgs

Tags: Olivia Simkins, Family, Fiction, 2-3, Fantasy, Picture Book

Genre: Fantasy

Analysis:

Jennie’s Hat is about a little girl named Jennie who is receiving a hat from her Aunt. When Jennie receives the hat, it isn’t what she expected. Jennie then sets out to find the perfect hat. This text could serve as a mirror for children. They can read this book and apply their own schema to the text. The book may have them think about the time they once received a gift from a family member and it turned out to be something they were not expecting. By having this text serve as a mirror it can also have the audience more intrigued as to what Jennie is going to do to make this present more appealing to her. The text may also give the students a chance to reflect on how Jennie reacted to the gift and whether she handled the situation correctly. The text can also give the readers time to reflect on how they might have responded themselves, if they were to receive the hat as a gift. This text also depicts different cultures through out the text. The words do not go in depth about different cultures. However, the illustrations do present other cultures through the people in Jennie’s everyday life. This story could give the readers the ideological thinking that Jennie’s response was not a nice one and she should have been happy and content with the gift she has received. It also could evoke a different kind of response. The audience could see the way Jennie changed the gift she received to fit something that served a better purpose to her, and agree that they believe she did the right thing. When looking deeper into the illustrations the readers can see that they have no frame around them allowing the audience to be a part of the story. It also allows us to see that different cultures have been featured in the book even though the text does not specifically state that the characters are of different races and cultures.