See? Mia Thermopolis doesn't want to be a princess. And neither does Rosie. In fact, Rosie grows up to become a firefighter. In other words, a fireman - a job generally seen as, well, for men. Basically as far as you could get from a princess in frilly dress and high heels. I love this. I love love love seeing a children's book in which a girl doesn't conform to a massive heap of stereotypes about what she should be. Rosie's Hat is a story of the adventures of a hat after it gets blown away from Rosie and ends up in some unusual situations. Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers.

Why? Because it is simultaneously really sweet and an antidote to the mountain of girls' books* which seem to have been written by authors under the impression that girls only like pink and glitter and all want to grow up to be princesses. This is not true. Romain, Lindsey (8 November 2019). "DOCTOR SLEEP's Rose the Hat Is An All-Time Great Stephen King Villain". Nerdist . Retrieved 2 February 2021. In the classroom this book can be used to teach knowledge retrieval skills, there are plenty of opportunities for discussion and questions due to the amount of detail in this book. Themes which arise are associated with loss and retrieval. Look at the use of prepositions in the story, e.g. across, around, over. Can you find any more prepositions? Can you write your own sentences which include prepositions? You can also try the prepositions activities here. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).You’ve got the clothes, the accessories, the hair, and the hat, but there’s still something missing. How does one achieve the dark sensuality and intoxicating charisma or Rose The Hat? It’s more than attitude. It’s more than swagger. It’s steam. This means the final step to being as soul-scorchingly hot as Rose The Hat is murdering Jacob Tremblay. Tallerico, Brian (8 November 2019). "Doctor Sleep movie review & film summary (2019) | Roger Ebert" . Retrieved 2 February 2021.

There are also lots of themes to explore. Rosie is heartbroken when she loses the hat, but one day she recovers it, and in the meantime they have both had many separate adventures (the hat is a 'co-star' of the book - we follow it's story, as well as Rosie's, as it is caught by a dog, then a fisherman, then used to make sandcastles and so on). For younger children, it is an opportunity to talk about what happens to both of the 'main characters', and also to explore what it means to lose something, to come to terms with it's loss and then to recover it - and to understand that life has a way of working out in ways that initially don't make sense. I think the problem with Julia Donaldson books is that there is an expectation they'll all be like her most popular rhyming stories and this one isn't. I didn't enjoy it and the children didn't think much of it either. The story seems boring compared to others from this author and although the way the book has a sentence followed by some sound words like woof, whoosh etc. is a nice way to show the journey of the hat, the story didn't keep our attention much at all.Let’s assume you have Rebecca Ferguson-level hair, both in length, deep brunette shade, and an inviting texture that practically begs to have beads and bits knit into it. Great! Now all you need is some bits and assistance. Scrounge around in your junk drawer or the bottom of your purse for odds and ends, a button, a rubber band, a broken zipper pull, or a forgotten subway token. Then get your favorite stoner friend to join you for a night of getting high and braiding hair. One of Rose’s fave things is smoking up and shotgunning hits with friends. By the end of the night, you’ll have a Rose the Hat fabulous rat’s nest! Rosie being a firefighter is a fairly crucial part of the plot. One blustery day, her hat gets blown away from her. She doesn't manage to find it that day and her hat, presumed lost for good, ends up being used as all kinds of things** as it floats around, waiting for her to grow up, become a firefighter, and be called to rescue a cat who is caught up the tree where it eventually lands. Its journey has come full circle and, in a sense, so has Rosie's as she has gone from being that little girl in a little red coat to, if I remember correctly, getting married and having a child of her own.*** Write a review of the story. What do you like about it? Are there any parts that you don’t like? Watch this video for some ideas:

Write a description of Rosie. What does she look like? How does she behave? Write another description of the fox. Look at the expressions on the animals’ faces throughout the story. How are they feeling? What might they be thinking?One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading. Rosie reached into the bag and took out ... a hat. It was a blue hat covered with a pattern of bright red stars.