Zara's Hats

Two days ago, I took my 6 year old granddaughter to the new downtown main library in Des Moines. We found this book and immediately checked it out. You see, my granddaughter's name is Zara. "Look, Grandpa! That litle girl is just like me, but with brown hair." How could I pass that up? More so as I read it to her. I am buying this book. The library book is due back in two weeks. With any luck, MY Zara will have her own copy by then.

Paul Meisel bases this colorful story on his own great-grandfather (Selig Sigmund) and grandmother (Zara) who owned a lower Manhattan hat shop at the turn of the century. Meisel has fun drawing and writing about the big frothy hats, all covered with ribbons, bows, feathers, and fabrics, and the excited customers who buy them. "'Oh, Mr. Selig, you are a genius!' Loretta Falsetta, the famous opera singer, trilled whenever she bought a hat." "'This hat will be perfect for the firefighters' ball!' exclaimed Brenda Hookenlader, the fire chief's wife." Everything runs smoothly at the shop, until Selig cannot find the last two feathers needed for Mrs. Hookenlader's hat. He entrusts Zara with finishing the hat while he searches the city for more, telling her that she'll make something "good enough for Mrs. Hookenlader, or even the President's wife." But, inexplicably (to the reader, as well), he cannot find any feathers, and therefore he cannot make any more hats. In a set of exciting pictures, Meisel shows Selig traveling on a great steamship and then through jungles and a desert to find bird feathers. Meanwhile, we see Zara and her mother walking around New York City, feeding ducks, buying hot roasted chestnuts, and watching a puppet show. The period costumes, just like the hats, are colorful and authentic-looking. Finally, Zara shows that necessity is indeed the mother of invention by resourcefully designing her own colorful hat coverings. Zara's paper mache animals, bugs, and other unusual decorations tree adorn the new hats. They're quite inventive, perhaps too much so for society New York society (especially that one with the Dalmatian next to the fire hydrant)! However, when Selig returns empty-handed (again, inexplicably) to the shop, he sees the wacky hats, the crowded store, and later, even Alice Roosevelt-the President's wife! This is a fun story that encourages creativity and the famous "can-do" attitude found in Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland movies (`say, I have an old bicycle tire, and the judge can lend me his robe-let's put on the show!') The pictures are bright and crisp, and Meisel does an excellent job of showing both close-ups of Sigmund and his daughter Zara, and scene-setting long perspectives as well. There's a real problem, however, with the premise that Selig cannot find any feathers. The book's plot turns on this premise, but we are never told why the feather source has apparently flown the coop. There's not even an attempt to explain this sudden turn of events. Meisel strives for an authentic portrayal of New York City--he even includes an 1899 photograph of Sigmund and Zara on the back cover-and one wishes he would have added some fun explanation about the feathers. You may want to ask your audience to think of some reasons for this absence, or maybe they'll be so enthralled by the story that it won't matter. A very good book, but it could have been even better.