Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Hat?

This book gives a face and name to all of the unremembered victims of the Holocaust. This is the story of a yellow hat whose owner perished in a concentration camp. The history of the woman is unknown, but the yellow hat creates a story that is both meaningful and memorable. The author writes that this story is in fact about a real yellow hat seen at a Holocaust museum. The story is done with such gentle silence that the woman's story is able to come to life, as well as the stories of all of the other unforgotten victims.

My mother met the author and bought the book. I saw it at her home and asked to borrow it, as I teach Holocaust Studies in a variety of contexts. I was VERY impressed both by the amazing overlay of black-and-white images and color to communicate the distance in time and nearness to us. I was VERY impressed by the candid and humane way the subject of "who wore that hat" was approached. Perhaps the highest praise I can give is that, although I know my 9-year old daughter has heard some discussions about the topic in the house and even in school, this was the first book I sat down to read with her as a way to see what questions she had about the Holocaust. It is a truly remarkable book.

Although I rated this book with four stars, I find it problematic as to who would actually read this book. It is poignant and touching, and beautifully done, but I am not certain that it is appropriate for a 9 - 12 year old as indicated in the book review above. It provokes discussion and maybe would be ideal for a pre-Holocaust read-aloud session for an older class. I would be hesitant to give it to a child to read on their own, unless they were at least junior-high age.

Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Hat? is the gold medal winner of the 2003 Sydney Taylor Book Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries! It was selected out of nearly 200 eligible titles as the best Judaic book of the year for older juvenile readers.Poignant; beautiful; understated yet magnificent! This is a short, poetic meditation on a hat left behind by an anonymous victim of the Holocaust. The ordinary object is observed in a way that makes it extraordinary; it becomes supercharged with significance as do objects on display in Holocaust museums. (The hat that inspired the book was, in fact, seen by the author at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam.) The book forms a respectful memorial to an unknown individual and by extension to all the anonymous people who died in the Holocaust.The spare text is touching, emotive yet very controlled. There is a perfect balance between the general and the specific, the sweeping events like round-ups and the tiny details like whether the woman put cream in her coffee. There is balance, too, between the focus on the unknown woman, the narrator, and the reader. All three are refered to, reminding us that "there but for the grace of God go I."The collaged illustrations work well as an accompaniment to the text. The sketches are soft and round-edged, and emotionally approachable. The scraps of photographs remind us that while we are imagining a life, we are talking about reality. The rough, torn borders evoke the theme of torn lives.Some knowledge of the Holocaust will be helpful in understanding this book, although it could be used as an intriguing introduction to deeper study of the era for those whose knowledge is minimal. Reading this book would also be a perfect way to prepare for a visit to a Holocaust museum, putting readers into a respectfully curious state of mind about the artifacts they might see there. However, the book stands easily on its own, without need of teacher intervention.